Page 2 - Prima_segnalazione_di_Caulerpa_taxifolia

592 P. Gianguzza, B. Zava, C. Bonaviri, G. Monteverde, A. Palmeri, S. Riggio

cal green seaweed spread over soft bottoms covered by Posidonia oceanica (L.),
Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Aschers and Caulerpa racemosa (Forsskål) J. Agardh.
At a depth of 18-20 m we found 8 large, densely populated patches (>20 m dia-
meter with average of upright fronds ± standard deviation 569±145 m-2) and seve-
ral smaller, sparsely populated patches (<0.4 m diameter with average of upright
fronds ± standard deviation 198±45 m-2) of C. taxifolia. Specifically, the dense
patches, with up to 85% bottom cover, were in the middle of the soft bottoms,
whereas the sparse patches of C. taxifolia, with up to 25% cover, were present at
the outer boundaries.

Conclusions
To date, apart from the strains of C. taxifolia present in the Straits of Messina

(Fradà Orestano et al., 1994; Profeta et al., 2004) no records of this species have
been reported along the Sicilian coasts. So we can reasonably suppose that this
new C. taxifolia finding is a consequence of secondary anthropogenic introduc-
tion. Our results showed that the new colony is expanding its range and accor-
ding to the scheme of Vaugelas et al. (1999) the Bue Marino station is consistent
with a second level of colonization, a level characterized by a rapid expansion.
Monitoring C. taxifolia in this new location, localized into the MPA of “Egadi
Islands”, is necessary in order to follow its progression along the Sicilian coasts.

Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to Julie-Anne Buck for revising the English text.

References
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This study was funded by the M.A.T.T. (Ministero dell’Ambiente e Difesa del Territorio) research project
to GRE (Gruppi Ricerca Ecologica).