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Tropical intertidal seaweed turf communities of Jesser Point, Sodwana Bay, South Africa
Algal turfs play an important role in both tropical and temperate reef ecology, supporting a diverse array of macrofauna as well as being primary producers within both intertidal and subtidal ecosystems. Biodiversity and biomass patterns of the intertidal algal turfs at Sodwana Bay, South Africa hav...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Biological Sciences
2017
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| _version_ | 1867613212354019328 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Innes, Sheona |
| author2 | Bolton, John J |
| author_browse | Bolton, John J Innes, Sheona |
| author_facet | Bolton, John J Innes, Sheona |
| author_sort | Innes, Sheona |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Algal turfs play an important role in both tropical and temperate reef ecology, supporting a diverse array of macrofauna as well as being primary producers within both intertidal and subtidal ecosystems. Biodiversity and biomass patterns of the intertidal algal turfs at Sodwana Bay, South Africa have not yet been established so this study was undertaken to investigate these. It was hypothesised that both biodiversity and biomass would decrease with increasing height along the shore, as well as that sediment would have an effect on the community composition of the turfs. The community was sampled over a vertical range of 1.2 m and found to be dominated by the red alga Jania intermedia (24.21 % of total algal coverage) followed by Tolypiocladia glomerulata (18.05 %), Dictyota sp. (13.39 %), Jania adhaerens (12.32 %) and Sphacelaria tribuloides. (5.83 %). No significant vertical zonation patterns were found, though certain species showed vertical trends such as Asparagopsis taxiformis and Sphacelaria tribuloides, which occurred in greatest biomass lower down on the shore, while Tolypiocladia glomerulata occurred higher up on the shore. Sand was found to affect certain species more than others, with Tolypiocladia glomerulata, Jania adhaerens and Asparagopsis taxiformis occurring in greatest biomass when the amount of sediment found in the quadrat was low, while Sphacelaria tribuloides. showed the opposite pattern and Jania intermedia showed no distinct pattern. Sampling took place over 1.2 m vertical height along the shore at spring low tide therefore covering 60 % of the intertidal zone vertically (maximum tidal range in South Africa is 2 m). It is therefore possible that the turfs are the cause of a decline in zonation by remaining damp and decreasing desiccation gradients vertically along the shore. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26378 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:33.381Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Department of Biological Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Biological Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26378 Tropical intertidal seaweed turf communities of Jesser Point, Sodwana Bay, South Africa Innes, Sheona Bolton, John J Anderson, Robert J Marine Biology Algal turfs play an important role in both tropical and temperate reef ecology, supporting a diverse array of macrofauna as well as being primary producers within both intertidal and subtidal ecosystems. Biodiversity and biomass patterns of the intertidal algal turfs at Sodwana Bay, South Africa have not yet been established so this study was undertaken to investigate these. It was hypothesised that both biodiversity and biomass would decrease with increasing height along the shore, as well as that sediment would have an effect on the community composition of the turfs. The community was sampled over a vertical range of 1.2 m and found to be dominated by the red alga Jania intermedia (24.21 % of total algal coverage) followed by Tolypiocladia glomerulata (18.05 %), Dictyota sp. (13.39 %), Jania adhaerens (12.32 %) and Sphacelaria tribuloides. (5.83 %). No significant vertical zonation patterns were found, though certain species showed vertical trends such as Asparagopsis taxiformis and Sphacelaria tribuloides, which occurred in greatest biomass lower down on the shore, while Tolypiocladia glomerulata occurred higher up on the shore. Sand was found to affect certain species more than others, with Tolypiocladia glomerulata, Jania adhaerens and Asparagopsis taxiformis occurring in greatest biomass when the amount of sediment found in the quadrat was low, while Sphacelaria tribuloides. showed the opposite pattern and Jania intermedia showed no distinct pattern. Sampling took place over 1.2 m vertical height along the shore at spring low tide therefore covering 60 % of the intertidal zone vertically (maximum tidal range in South Africa is 2 m). It is therefore possible that the turfs are the cause of a decline in zonation by remaining damp and decreasing desiccation gradients vertically along the shore. 2017-11-17T08:15:34Z 2017-11-17T08:15:34Z 2010 2017-02-01T13:15:24Z Bachelor Thesis Honours BSc (Hons) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26378 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Marine Biology Innes, Sheona Tropical intertidal seaweed turf communities of Jesser Point, Sodwana Bay, South Africa |
| thesis_degree_str | Bachelor's / Honours |
| title | Tropical intertidal seaweed turf communities of Jesser Point, Sodwana Bay, South Africa |
| title_full | Tropical intertidal seaweed turf communities of Jesser Point, Sodwana Bay, South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Tropical intertidal seaweed turf communities of Jesser Point, Sodwana Bay, South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tropical intertidal seaweed turf communities of Jesser Point, Sodwana Bay, South Africa |
| title_short | Tropical intertidal seaweed turf communities of Jesser Point, Sodwana Bay, South Africa |
| title_sort | tropical intertidal seaweed turf communities of jesser point sodwana bay south africa |
| topic | Marine Biology |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26378 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT innessheona tropicalintertidalseaweedturfcommunitiesofjesserpointsodwanabaysouthafrica |