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Reef gets seaweed transplant
Marine ecologists in Sydney manage to restore the missing crayweed onto two barren reef sites where it once grew abundantly.
Several species of large canopy forming macroalgae and the habitats they provide are declining in many temperate ecosystems
Macroalgae are the dominant habitat-forming organisms on temperate coastlines, providing habitat and food to entire communities.
In recent decades, there has been a decline in macroalgal cover along some urbanised shorelines, leading to a shift from diverse algal forests to more simple turf algae or barren habitats.
Along the urban shores of Sydney, its disappearance is coincident with heavy sewage outfall discharges along the metropolitan coast during 1970s and 1980s. Despite significant improvements in water-quality since that time, Phyllospora has not re-established.