Effects of kelp canopies on bleaching and photosynthetic activity of encrusting coralline algae

By A. Irving, S. Connell, T. Elsdon. 2004

88 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Canopy-forming algae often coexist with an understorey of encrusting coralline algae that bleach following the loss of canopies. We tested the hypothesis that canopy loss causes a reduction in photosynthetic activity of encrusting coralline algae concomitant with their bleaching. When canopies were experimentally removed, corallines bleached and their photosynthetic activity was rapidly reduced to half their activity observed under canopies. This result prompted us to test, and subsequently accept, the hypothesis that exposure of understorey corallines to enhanced light intensity per se (simulation of canopy loss) acts as a mechanism that causes bleaching and reduced photosynthetic activity. Despite bleaching, encrusting corallines maintained reduced levels of photosynthetic activity, and this may explain why, under certain conditions, bleached corallines can persist in the absence of canopy-forming algae. Nevertheless, our data provide evidence that the positive association between canopy-forming algae and encrusting coralline algae is maintained because of shade provided by the canopy.

Subfields: Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/77b5eb572afc2639bc3a19ac9d1783ec1f3b8c4f

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In Ecology

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Oceanography

Citations in the corpus

A benthic mucilage event in North‐Western Mediterranean Sea and its possible relationships with the summer 2003 European heatwave: short term effects on littoral rocky assemblages (2007, background): “Conversely, the understorey of encrusting coralline algae seems to have ‘bleached’ following the loss of macroalgae canopy, an event that is known to cause both bleaching and reduced photosynthetic activity ( Irving et al. 2004 ).”
Physical disturbance and subtidal habitat structure on open rocky coasts: Effects of wave exposure, extent and intensity (2008, background): “Although canopy loss can have almost instantaneous adverse effects on the physiology of encrusting algae (Irving et al., 2004a), they can often recover from these effects and tolerate even persistent cover of turf (Airoldi, 1998; Figueiredo et al., 2000).”