Underwater forests, threatened by human activity imp
The effects of an intense storm every twenty-five years could make the marine alga populations of Cystoseira zosteroides disappear –an endemic species of the Mediterranean with great ecological value for the biodiversity of marine benthos- according to a new article of the international Journal of Ecology. The new study is signed by the experts Pol Capdevila and Bernat Hereu, from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the UB, IRBio) and Juan Lluís Riera and Cristina Linares, from the same department.
Marine algae forests in danger
C. zosteroides, a brown alga of the order Fucale, is a species that creates dense underwater forests that create habitat, protection and food for the marine organisms. Despite its ecological value, there is not much scientific bibliography about this algae species yet, which is one of the most sensitive under the environmental and anthropogenic impacts in the Mediterranean.
According to the researcher Pol Capdevila, first author of the article, “there has been a dramatic decline regarding the habitat-forming algae –mainly the ones belonging to Cystoseira or Sargassum- over the last years. For example in France, the C. zosteroides has dramatically decreased in some marine areas, mostly due to activities of anthropogenic origins (harbor building, pollution, etc.).
“In the Medes Islands –he continues- there is a Cystoseira population which is still recovering from the effects of the storm of September 26, 2008, an extreme episode with unusual strong winds, and waves up to fourteen meters, which provoked the death of around 79% of the communities of this species”.