Polychaete assemblages associated with the invasive green alga Avrainvillea amadelpha and surrounding bare sediment patches in Hawaii
Memoirs of Museum Victoria Vol 71 p. 161–168 (2014)
Abstract
Avrainvillea amadelpha is one of the most widespread invasive green algae on Hawaii’s reefs, but virtually nothing is known about its associated fauna. A total of 16 sampling stations were selected: ten stations were distributed in areas where the invasive alga occurred abundantly (‘A’ stations) and six stations were placed on bare sand patches (‘S’ stations). Three replicates of ~475 cm³ each were collected in March 2010 at each station, by hand, using a nalgene corer (11 cm in diameter by 5 cm deep). Based on the comparison between Avrainvillea amadelpha-dominated bottoms and the surrounding bare sediment patches, our study demonstrates that these habitats support a diverse and abundant polychaete assemblage, with 2621 individuals and 84 species collected. The species Sphaerosyllis densopapillata (34.14%), Phyllochaetopterus verrilli (8.32%), Protocirrineris mascaratus (5.9%), Exogone longicornis (4.9%) and Syllis cornuta (4.47%) are the dominant taxa. The non-metric multidimensional scaling clearly separated the ‘A’ stations from the ‘S’ stations. ANOSIM has shown that stations within the a priori-defined group ‘A’ are significantly dissimilar from the stations in the group ‘S’ (R = 0.527; P = 0.1%). SIMPER analysis has confirmed the slight but greater dissimilarity between algae and sediment stations (average dissimilarity = 60.12) than within either algae (52.27) or sediment stations (52.04). The invasive green alga A. amadelpha facilitates the development of above-ground polychaete communities, but the negative effects of this invader on the infaunal communities should be further investigated.
Citation
Magalhães, W.F. & Bailey-Brock, J.H., 2014. Polychaete assemblages associated with the invasive green alga Avrainvillea amadelpha and surrounding bare sediment patches in Hawaii. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 71: 161-168. http://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2014.71.13
PUBLICATION DATE: 18 December 2014