Responses of macroalgal community to environmental changes

Abstract

Species of Cystoseira (Ochrophyta, Fucales) seem to be sensitive to a variety of environmental changes, as a consequence of which, they are now used in ecological status assessment. On the contrary, invasive species tend to be more resilient to disturbances than Cystoseira species, and thus environmental changes to allow them to out-compete these species. All these evidences lead to consider Cystoseira species, as well as invasive species, as biological indicators of environmental changes. Therefore, the effects of environmental changes can be measured through: (1) the assessment of the current state of the popu- lations of Cystoseira species and of invasive species, (2) the comparison of it with histori- cal records and (3) highlighting the relationship between the evolution of these algal populations and environmental changes.