Invasion History
First Non-native North American Tidal Record: 1991First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record:
First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record: 1991
General Invasion History:
North American Invasion History:
Description
Taxonomy
Taxonomic Tree
Kingdom: | Plantae | |
Phylum: | Rhodophycota | |
Class: | Rhodophyceae | |
Subclass: | Florideophycideae | |
Order: | Gigartinales | |
Family: | Areschougiaceae | |
Genus: | Kappaphycus | |
Species: | alvarezii |
Synonyms
Potentially Misidentified Species
None
Kappaphycus striatus
None
Ecology
General:
In Hawaii, populations of Kappaphycus alvarezi reproduce only vegetatively (Smith 2002), but sexual reproduction has occurred under laboratorry conditions (Bulboa et al. 2008, cited b Chandrasekaran 2008)
Consumers:
Humans (cultured for carrageenan)
Trophic Status:
Primary Producer
PrimProdHabitats
General Habitat | Oyster Reef | None |
General Habitat | Coral reef | None |
General Habitat | Mangroves | None |
Salinity Range | Polyhaline | 18-30 PSU |
Salinity Range | Euhaline | 30-40 PSU |
Tidal Range | Subtidal | None |
Vertical Habitat | Epibenthic | None |
Life History
Tolerances and Life History Parameters
Maximum Temperature (ºC) | 31 | Water of this temperature caused ~70% mortality of cultured Kappaphycus in Fiji (Ask 2001). |
Broad Temperature Range | None | Subtropical-Tropical |
Broad Salinity Range | None | Polyhaline-Euhaline |
General Impacts
Regional Impacts
CIO-II | None | Ecological Impact | Competition | ||
Overgrowing coral reefs, smothering corals (Acropora sp.), and depriving them of light (Chandrasekaran et al. 2008,) | |||||
CIO-II | None | Ecological Impact | Habitat Change | ||
Overgowing and killing corals (Chandrasekaran et al. 2008) | |||||
SP-XXI | None | Ecological Impact | Competition | ||
In Kane'ohe Bay, 'In some areas this organism is clearly competitively dominant, occupying up to 80% of the substrate. Because of its large stature, Kappaphycus also appears to be competing with coral and may be able to overgrow live coral colonies.' (Smith et al. 2002). | |||||
SP-XXI | None | Ecological Impact | Food/Prey | ||
Kappaphycus spp. is a less preferred item for herbivorus fishes in Kane'ohe Bay, which may contribute to its competitiveness. However, it is preferentially grazed by native sea urchins, providing a possible means of biocontrol (Conklin and Smith 2005). | |||||
SP-VII | None | Economic Impact | Fisheries | ||
Seaweed farming of Kappaphycus alvarezi was started in 1966 or 1975, and continued on a small scale, but collapsed in 1993 because of excessive costs and low porduction. The program was redsigned and restarted in 1997 (Ask et al. 2003; Pickering et al. 2007) | |||||
CAR-III | None | Ecological Impact | Habitat Change | ||
Smothering seagrasses, corals, and mangroves in Bocas del Toro, Panama (Sellers et al. 2015) | |||||
HI | Hawaii | Ecological Impact | Competition | ||
In Kane'ohe Bay, 'In some areas this organism is clearly competitively dominant, occupying up to 80% of the substrate. Because of its large stature, Kappaphycus also appears to be competing with coral and may be able to overgrow live coral colonies.' (Smith et al. 2002). | |||||
HI | Hawaii | Ecological Impact | Food/Prey | ||
Kappaphycus spp. is a less preferred item for herbivorus fishes in Kane'ohe Bay, which may contribute to its competitiveness. However, it is preferentially grazed by native sea urchins, providing a possible means of biocontrol (Conklin and Smith 2005). |
Regional Distribution Map
Bioregion | Region Name | Year | Invasion Status | Population Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
EAS-I | None | 0 | Native | Established |
EAS-III | None | 0 | Native | Established |
EAS-II | None | 0 | Native | Established |
SP-XXI | None | 1974 | Non-native | Established |
CIO-II | None | 2000 | Non-native | Established |
SP-VII | None | 1986 | Non-native | Established |
SP-V | None | 1990 | Non-native | Established |
SP-VIII | None | 1990 | Non-native | Established |
SP-XI | None | 1990 | Non-native | Unknown |
SP-XVI | None | 1977 | Non-native | Established |
EA-III | None | 0 | Non-native | Unknown |
CAR-III | None | 2013 | Non-native | Established |
SA-II | None | 1995 | Non-native | Unknown |
SP-XIII | None | 1985 | Non-native | Unknown |
CAR-I | Northern Yucatan, Gulf of Mexico, Florida Straits, to Middle Eastern Florida | 1991 | Non-native | Unknown |
PAN_CAR | Panama Caribbean Coast | 2013 | Non-native | Established |
Occurrence Map
OCC_ID | Author | Year | Date | Locality | Status | Latitude | Longitude |
---|
References
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Ask, E. I.; Ledua, E.; Batibasaga, A.; Mario, S (2003) Proceedings of the 17th International Seaweed Symposium, Oxford University Press, Oxford UK. Pp. 81-85
Carlton, James T.; Eldredge, Lucius (2009) Marine bioinvasions of Hawaii: The introduced and cryptogenic marine and estuarine animals and plants of the Hawaiian archipelago., Bishop Museum Bulletin in Cultural and Environmental Studies 4: 1-202
Castelar, Beatriz; Reis, Renata Perpetuo; Bastos, Marcos (2009) [Contribution to the environmental monitoring protocol for Kappaphycus alvarezii (Doty) Doty ex P.C. Silva (Areschougiaceae - Rhodophyta) cultivation at Sepetiba bay, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil).], Acta Botanica Brasilica 23(3): 613-617
Chandrasekaran, S.; Arun Nagendran N.; Pandiaraja, D.; Krishnankutty, N.; Kamalakannan, B. (2008) Bioinvasion of Kappaphycus alvarezii on corals in the Gulf of Mannar, India., Current Science 94(9): 1167-1172
Conklin, Eric J.; Smith, Jennifer E. (2005) Abundance and spread of the invasive red algae, Kappaphycus spp., in Kane’ohe Bay, Hawai’i and an experimental assessment of management options., Biological Invasions 7: 1029-1039
da Silva, Beatriz Nogueira Torrano; Amancio, Carlos Eduardo; Filho, Eurico Cabral de Oliveira (2010) Exotic marine macroalgae on the Brazilian coast: A revision, Oecologia Australis 14(2): 403-414
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