Patterns of benthic assemblages invaded and non-invaded by Grateloupia turuturu across rocky intertidal habitats

Intertidal benthic assemblages invaded and non-invaded by the introduced Asian red alga Grateloupia turuturu were compared at a rocky shore along the NW coast of Portugal. The structure of whole assemblages, the total richness of taxa and the abundance of individual taxa were examined as response variables in two different habitats (rock pools and emergent rock), two shore levels (low and mid intertidal) and two dates of sampling (June 2013 and June 2014). Invaded and non-invaded assemblages differed consistently across habitats and shore levels. Such differences were driven by 13 (with the green alga genus Ulva, the red alga Chondrus crispus and the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis driving the total dissimilarity) out of the total 37 taxa identified. Individual taxa revealed idiosyncratic patterns, in several cases (C. crispus, M. galloprovincialis, articulated coralline algae of the genus Corallina and the crustose sporophyte of the red alga Mastocarpus stellatus) there were differences in the abundance of a taxon between invaded and non-invaded assemblages varying with levels of some other experimental factors. The total number of taxa was higher in invaded compared to non-invaded assemblages for each combination of habitat and shore level. Patterns of invasion by G. turuturu along the Portuguese continental coast were recently described in terms of its temporal and spatial distribution, but never examined in terms of differences between invaded and non-invaded assemblages. Such information is very limited for other geographic areas where this species is recorded out of its native range of distribution. Therefore, the present study provides a new contribution to the understanding of modifications of native assemblages associated with the invasion of G. turuturu, opening avenues of research aimed at specifically examining the factors and processes likely responsible for the invasion dynamics and success of this species.