Macroalgas epífitas de Zostera marina L. en Bahía Concepción, B.C.S., México

Abstract

In order to understand the seaweeds epiphytes in Zostera marina beds in Bahía Concepción we determine the number of species, the overall percentage cover of epiphytes at dorsal or ventral position at three levels in the leaves every two weeks during the maximum growth of the plants between March 15 and May 14, 1992. Also, to understand if the presence of epiphytes have any relationship with the presence of the plant, fake leaves were installed in February 22 with the same periodicity of sampling. We find out that 8 species live as epiphytes, 1 green and 7 red algae were determined. Only two species have been previously cited as epiphytes of Z. marina. We found that the epiphytes can develop in both sides of the leaves and fakes with a relative abundance up to 80% of the area. The dominant component in the cover was a nongeniculate coralline algae while the fleshy species were more abundant in old portions. The species number associated with the leaves and fakes and the overall relative abundance increase and decline rapidly during the sampling, suggesting that there is not relation¬ship between epiphyte and the seagrass as suggested in other studies.