Question

The EPA has just employed you to perform a “survey” along the West Coast of the US. During the survey, you found Region #1 has this composition of algae: 10% Cladophora sp. (filamentous), 10% Ulva sp. (sheet like), 10% Enteromorpha sp. (filamentous), 10% Gracilaria sp. (thick and leathery), 5% Halimeda sp. (jointed calcareous), 5% Polysiphonia sp. (coarsely branched), 10% Porolithon sp. (crustose), 5% Gelidium sp. (coarsely branched), 15% Lithothamnion sp. (crustose), 10% Porphyra sp. (sheet like) and 10% Corallina sp. (crustose).

You walk down the beach about 1 mile and come across another community in Region #2 that is 50% Ulva sp. (sheet like), 20% Porphyra sp. (sheet like), 10% Halimeda sp. (jointed calcareous) and 10% Corallina sp. (crustose).

1. In your survey, what level of community succession has the algae community reached in each of these regions? Why/how are you making this assessment? These communities are fairly close together spatially. Why do you think they are so different in composition?

Answer 1

1. The EPA was designed and surveys are conducted to keep an check on the control of the toxicity in the water bodies which in this case is an salt water body of the beach. The algae serves an as major indicator for the effulents in the water.
2. There are various kinds of tests which can be conduted like toxicity and reproductive test to determine the sensitivity and find out an ecological significance.
3. The community succession could have resulted due to the result of the seaweed farming being practised by the individuals.If considered, the farming approaches towards Ulva and porphra and other species would have resulted by the bamboo bottom down method resulting in spread of the spores to the region 2.
4. The seaweed farming is used in various industrail production for food, medicine and for decoration purposes. The intense composition of the green alage which includes Ulva and halimeda and red alage which includes porphyra are such examples.
5. Therfore, such an movemnt from one ecological niche to other is in broad terms called as surviving and adaption by organism to new environmet which marks the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin.