Long-term comparison of algal assemblages dominated by Cystoseira crinita (Fucales, Heterokontophyta) from Cap Corse (Corsica, North Western Mediterranean)

Figures & data

Fig. 1. Location of the study sites.

Table 1. Complete species list for the 15 Cap Corse sites. Abundances of the species are on the Braun–Blanquet scale. ^a

	1	2	3	4	5	6	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Acetabularia acetabulum	+	+	+					+			+	+
Acrothamnion preissii		+	+				+	+	+	+	+
Alsidium corallinum									2
Alsidium helminthochorton									2
Amphiroa cryptarthrodia					+
Amphiroa rigida		+					+					2	+
Anadyomene stellata	+												+	+
Boergeseniella fruticulosa							+
Ceramiaceae (unidentified)														+
Ceramium codii					2
Chaetomorpha aerea					+
Chondracanthus acicularis									+	1
Chondria dasyphylla									+
Chondria sp.									+
Cladophora coelothrix		+	+			+		3	+				+	2
Cladophora laetevirens	1	2	+		+	+	+			+
Cladophora lehmanniana										+
Cladophora nigrescens						+
Cladophora pellucida					+
Cladophora prolifera	3	+	1		+				1					2
Cladophora sp.										2
Cladostephus spongiosus	1	2							+
Codium bursa													+
Corallina elongata	+		2									+	+
Cystoseira brachycarpa var. balearica													1
Cystoseira barbata								1						3
Cystoseira compressa var. pustulata													2
Cystoseira crinita	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	4	4	4	4
C. foeniculacea var. tenuiramosa													1
C. spinosa var. tenuior								1	+
Dasya corymbifera							+				+
Dasya rigidula		+
Dasycladus vermicularis			1	+		+		1			1		1	+
Delesseriaceae (unidentified)		+								1
Dictyopteris polypodioides	1	+	+				2		1	1		2	3
Dictyota dichotoma var. intricata	1		+		1		2	+	1	+		+	+	+
Dictyota fasciola	2	+	+			+	1	+	+		+	+	+
Dictyotaceae (unidentified)				+		+	+	2		1		2	3	4
Falkenbergia sp.						+
Feldmannia lebelii											2
Feldmannia irregularis							+
Flabellia petiolata		+	+		+	2		+			+			3
Gayliella flaccida		+									+
Gelidium crinale									+
Gelidium latifolium			2
Grateloupia dichotoma										1
Halimeda tuna									1
Haliptilon virgatum	2	4	2	3	3	3	1	1	+	+	1	5	3	+
Halopithys incurva									1
Herposiphonia secunda							+				+
Hydrolithon farinosum				2	1	2	2	1	1		2	+	3	3
Hypnea musciformis							3	+	2	1
Jania longifurca											+
Jania rubens		1	2						+		+
Laurencia microcladia	+							+	+	+
Laurencia obtusa									2	2
Liebmannia leveillei										+
Lophosiphonia cristata								+
Neogoniolithon brassica-florida	4	2	3	2	4	2	4	5	5	5	2	4	4	3
Padina pavonica	+	+							+	+	1	+	1
Palisada papillosa									+
Parviphycus tenuissimus					1			+	+		+		+
Peyssonnelia dubyi		2			1							1
Peyssonnelia harveyana									2
Peyssonnelia squamaria	2	+								1
Phyllophora crispa										+
Plocamium cartilagineum										+
Polysiphonia sp.								+
Polystrata fosliei								1			2
Porphyra sp.		+
Pseudochlorodesmis furcellata				+	+	+							+	+
Pseudolithoderma adriaticum		2	3	4	2	1	2	1		2	4	2	+	1
Rhodymenia ardissonei	2		1
Rytiphlaea tinctoria								3	2	2
Siphonocladus pusillus						+
Sphacelaria cirrosa	1	2	3		+		4	3	5	3	4	+	1	2
Stypocaulon scoparium	+	+	1			+	1	1	1	2
Taonia atomaria	+	+	+					+
Ulva sp.										+
Valonia utricularis			+		3		+	+		+			+
^a +, <1% cover; 1, 1–5% cover; 2, 5–25% cover; 3, 25–50% cover; 4, 50–75% cover; 5, >75% cover.

Table 2. Reduced list of species used for the comparison between data from 1958 and 2007. The acronyms shown represent the species which are correlated with the ordination in Fig. 3. Results of SIMPER analysis are shown as cumulative per cent contribution to dissimilarity between 1958 and 2007.

Species	Acronym	1958 ^a	2007 ^b	% Con. ^c
Neogoniolithon brassica-florida	Neobra	15.50	51.43	14.96
Haliptilon virgatum and Jania rubens	Halvir	51.96	28.43	29.66
Sphacelaria cirrosa	Sphcir	14.89	26.57	39.28
Pseudolithoderma adriaticum	Pseadr	5.79	19.00	47.43
Cystoseira crinita	Cyscri	67.86	78.57	53.86
Dictyota spp. (D. dichotoma, D. dichotoma var. intricata, D. fasciola, Dictyotaceae unidentified)	Dicspp	5.18	13.57	58.80
Epiphytic Melobesiae	EpiMel	3.46	11.50	63.04
Cladophora spp. (C. laetevirens, C. lehmaniana, C. coelothrix, C. nigrescens, C. pellucida, C. prolifera)	Claspp	0.50	11.00	67.25
Laurencia spp. (L. obtusa, L. microcladia)	Lausp	6.39	2.64	70.06
Cystoseira spp. (C. balearica, C. barbata, C. compressa v. compressa, C. compressa var. pustulata, C. foeniculacea var. tenuiramosa, C. spinosa var. tenuior, C. stricta)	Cysspp	0.14	6.68	72.56
Dictyopteris polypodioides	Dicpol	0.14	6.39	74.98
Stypocaulon scoparium	Halsco	4.71	2.89	77.37
Dasycladus vermicularis	Dasver	5.71	1.64	79.33
Peyssonnelia spp. (P. dubyi, P. harveyana, P. squamaria, P. rubra)	Peyspp	0.14	4.82	81.23
Flabellia petiolata	Flapet	0.29	4.29	83.06
Rytiphlaea tinctoria	Ryttin	0.00	5.18	84.87
Padina pavonica	Padpav	4.50	1.07	86.50
Hypnea musciformis	Hypmus	0.00	4.36	88.07
Herposiphonia secunda	Hersec	3.54	0.14	89.46
Valonia utricularis	Valutr	0.50	3.04	90.77
Feldmannia lebelii	Felcae	1.61	1.25	91.83
Lophosiphonia spp. (L. cristata, L. obscura)	Lopspp	0.36	2.68	92.88
Cladostephus spongiosus	Claver	0.43	1.68	93.70
Rhodymenia ardissonei	Rhoard	0.00	1.61	94.36
Polystrata fosliei	Polfos	0.00	1.61	95.00
Amphiroa spp. (A. rigida, A. cryptarthrodia)	Amprig	0.07	1.54	95.63
Corallina elongata	Corelo	0.14	1.46	96.22
Ceramium spp. (C. codii, G. flaccida)	Cerspp	0.00	1.46	96.82
Gelidium latifolium	Gellat	0.00	1.25	97.30
Alsidium spp. (A. corallinum, A. helminthochorton)	Alssp	0.07	1.25	97.75
Parviphycus tenuissimus	Gelpan	0.00	0.64	98.00
Halopithys incurva	Halinc	0.36	0.36	98.24
Anadyomene stellata	Anaste	0.43	0.21	98.47
Acrothamnion preissii	Acrpre	0.00	0.50	98.66
Acetabularia acetabulum	Aceace	0.29	0.43	98.85
Wrangelia penicillata	Wrapen	0.43	0.00	99.02
Chondracanthus acicularis	Choaci	0.00	0.43	99.18
Pseudochlorodesmis furcellata	Psefur	0.00	0.36	99.33
Halimeda tuna	Haltun	0.07	0.36	99.47
Grateloupia dichotoma	Gradic	0.00	0.36	99.61
Taonia atomaria	Taoato	0.00	0.29	99.72
Dasya spp. (D. corymbifera, D. rigidula)	Dasspp	0.00	0.21	99.80
Erythrocystis montagnei	Erymon	0.21	0.00	99.89
Liagora viscida	Liavis	0.21	0.00	99.97
Jania longifurca	Janlon	0.00	0.07	100.00
^a ^, ^b Average per cent cover of species for old and new data.
^c Percentage cumulative contribution to dissimilarity.

Table 3. PERMANOVA results for species composition and abundances of C. crinita assemblages and factors time and location.

Source	df	Main effects			Location	Pair-wise tests 1958, 2007
		SS	F	P		t	P (MC) ^c
Time ^a	1	5382.8	7.4348	0.0001	Pietracorbara	1.7517	0.0565
Location ^b	3	5120.7	2.3576	0.0003	Macinaggio	1.5366	0.1280
Time × Location	3	4310.0	1.9844	0.0026	Centuri	2.5208	0.0041
Residual	18	13032.0			Fornali	1.5494	0.1056
Total	25	28206.0
^a ^, ^b Factors time and location are treated as fixed.
^c Monte Carlo P-values.

Fig. 2. MDS ordination of all sampling sites based on species composition and abundances of C. crinita assemblages. Site numbers are indicated.

Fig. 3. MDS ordination of the sites at Cap Corse based on species composition and species abundances of C. crinita assemblages. The species shown are those with a Spearman correlation >0.55. Site numbers are indicated, and species acronyms are as in Table 2.