The Caulerpa racemosa Complex (Caulerpales, Ulvophyceae) in the Mediterranean Sea
- 12 January 2000
- journal article
- Published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH in Botanica Marina
- Vol. 43 (1), 49-68
- https://doi.org/10.1515/bot.2000.005
Abstract
The compendium of literature citations for Caulerpa racemosa (Forsskål) J. Agardh in the Mediterranean Sea, together with available fresh and preserved material from both known and new localities, were critically examined. This analysis suggests that three distinct taxa of C. racemosa co-exist in the Mediterranean Sea. (i) C. racemosa var. turbinata—uvifera, known since 1926 and 1931 in Tunisia and in the Levantine basin (ii) var. lamourouxii f. requienii, known since the 1950s in the Levantine basin and (iii) an invasive variety which has been quickly spreading, since the early 1990s, throughout most of the Mediterranean Sea (Balearic Islands, France, Western and Southern Italy, Sardinia, Sicily, Greece, Crete, Turkey, Cyprus, Libya and Lampedusa Island, off Tunisia). The last variety differs mainly from the two first varieties by its upright axes with clavate, more or less inflated branchlets, which are uncrowded and radially to distichously disposed. Within the C. racemosa complex, several taxa are known to bear uncrowded, radially and/or distichously arranged branchlets. Among them, C. racemosa var. occidentalis, a tropical taxon widely distributed throughout the tropical seas, appears to be closest to the invasive Mediterranean variety of C. racemosa. Various criteria (taxonomy, kinetics of spread, tendancy to pullulate) suggest that C. racemosa aff. var. occidentalis could be a taxon recently introduced to the Mediterranean Sea.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Warming and freshwater budget change in the Mediterranean since the 1940s, their possible relation to the greenhouse effectGeophysical Research Letters, 1998
- Molecular evidence for the aquarium origin of the green alga Caulerpa taxifolia introduced to the Mediterranean SeaMarine Ecology Progress Series, 1998
- POPULATION GENETICS AND TAXONOMY OF CAULERPA (CHLOROPHYTA) FROM THE GREAT BARRIER REEF, AUSTRALIA1Journal of Phycology, 1997
- Are the Mediterranean waters becoming warmer? Information from biological indicatorsMarine Pollution Bulletin, 1994
- Ecological Roulette: The Global Transport of Nonindigenous Marine OrganismsScience, 1993
- Culture Studies on Two Morphological Types of Caulerpa (Chlorophyta) from Perth, Western Australia, with a Description of a New SpeciesBotanica Marina, 1993
- Check-list of Mediterranean Seaweeds. II. Chlorophyceae Wille s.l.Botanica Marina, 1993
- Caulerpa racemosa (Chlorophyta) on the Mediterranean Coast of EgyptPhycologia, 1992
- Warming trend in the western Mediterranean deep waterNature, 1990
- The Bases for Temperature Zonation in Geographical DistributionEcological Monographs, 1947