NO DELETERIOUS ALTERATIONS IN POSIDONIA BEDS IN THE BAY OF MENTON (FRANCE) EIGHT YEARS AFTER CAULERPA TAXIFOLIA COLONIZATION |
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| Authors: | Jean M Jaubert John R M Chisholm Danielle Ducrot Herb T Ripley Laura Roy Gilles Passeron-Seitre |
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| Institution: | Centre Scientifique, Observatoire Océanologique Européen, de Monaco, Avenue Saint-Martin, MC 98000, Principality of Monaco, and Universitéde Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Expérimentale, Campus Valrose - F 06108 Nice Cédex 2, France; Centre Scientifique, Observatoire Océanologique Européen, de Monaco, Avenue Saint-Martin, MC 98000, Principality of Monaco; Centre d'Etude Spatiale de la Biosphère, bpi 2801, 18, Avenue E. Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cédex 4, France; Hyperspectral Data International, One Research Drive, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada B2Y 4M9; Centre Scientifique, Observatoire Océanologique Européen, de Monaco, Avenue Saint-Martin, MC 98000, Principality of Monaco |
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| Abstract: | High-resolution multispectral imagery, aerial photography, and SCUBA diving surveys were used to determine if there had been any significant alteration in the dimensions of Posidonia oceanica beds in the Bay of Menton, French Riviera, since colonization of the green alga Caulerpa taxifolia began in the late 1980s. After 8 years of direct contact, there was no evidence of a decrease in the abundance of P. oceanica. On the contrary, the integrity of a seagrass bed had increased in the first area colonized by Caulerpa taxifolia on the eastern side of Cape Martin and, in a more recently colonized central part of the bay, established tufts of Posidonia were isolated from the alga by well-defined exclusion zones. |
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| Keywords: | aerial photography casi Caulerpa taxifolia Mediterranean Posidonia oceanica |
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