Loss of habitat-forming algae is increasingly prevalent in temperate marine ecosystems. Here, we document absence of an important habitat-forming macroalga, Phyllospora comosa (Labill.) C. Agardh, along an urbanized coast in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Dense Phyllospora canopies were common on shallow sublittoral reefs north and south of Sydney. In contrast, we did not find a single individual along ∼70 km of rocky coastline in the Sydney metropolitan region, despite historical evidence to suggest that it was very common half a century ago. Recolonization of this important habitat-forming alga has not occurred on Sydney reefs despite improved water quality, protection of its habitat, and frequent long-distance dispersal of Phyllospora wrack. While there are obvious limitations, historical information can be useful for identifying potential shifts in community structure to increase our understanding of contemporary ecological patterns.

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ABSTRACT1. Recent approaches to the planning of marine protected area (MPA) networks for biodiversity conservation often stress the need for a representative coverage of habitat types while aiming to minimize impacts on resource users. As typified by planning for the Australian South-east Marine Region, this strategy can be manipulated by political processes, with consequent biased siting of MPAs. Networks thus created frequently possess relatively low value for biodiversity conservation, despite significant costs in establishment and maintenance.2. Such biases can be minimized through application of the data-driven and species-based concept of key biodiversity areas (KBAs).3. By mapping locations of threatened species and populations that are highly aggregated in time or space, the KBA process allows marine sites of global biodiversity significance to be systematically identified as priority

Fifteen species in seven genera of the marine benthic red algal order Gelidiales are reported from the New South Wales coast including Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. Critical sampling, a re-examination of herbarium specimens filed in the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney and the University of Melbourne, and molecular sequencing of most of the species has determined that many of the previous identifications from this region of the Pacific were incorrect. Gelidium pusillum (Stackhouse) Le Jolis, once widely reported from this coast, is shown not to occur here and the specimens on which these misidentifications were made have proved to represent either new species or previously described species. Similarly, records of Gelidium australe J. Agardh have been found to represent misidentification of the formerly New Zealand endemic Gelidium allanii V.J.Chapman, and specimens identified as Gelidium caulacantheum J. Agardh actually represent the new species Gelidium hommersandii sp. nov. Previously recorded species verified in this study are Capreolia implexa Guiry & Womersley, Gelidiella acerosa (Forsskål) Feldmann & G.Hamel, Gelidium maidenii Lucas, Pterocladia lucida (Turner) J. Agardh, Pterocladiella caerulescens (Kützing) Santelices & Hommersand [as Pterocladia caerulescens (Kützing) Santelices], Pterocladiella capillacea (Gmelin) Santelices & Hommersand [as Pterocladia capillacea (Gmelin) Bornet], and Ptilophora pectinata (A. & E.S. Gepp) R.E.Norris. These species are described and illustrated in detail along with previously unreported reproductive structures. Three species are newly recorded for the New South Wales mainland [Parviphycus antipae Celan, Gelidium crinale (Turner) Gaillon, and Pterocladiella caloglossoides (Howe) Santelices], and two species (Gelidium isabelae W.R.Taylor and Gelidium allanii V.J.Chapman) represent new records for the Australian continent. In addition, three new species are described: Gelidium bernabei sp. nov., Gelidium declerckii sp. nov., and Gelidium hommersandii sp. nov.

This paper provides the first monographic account of south-eastern Australian representatives of the Hapalidiaceae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta). The Hapalidiaceae includes those Corallinales whose tetrasporangia produce zonately arranged spores, and whose tetrasporangia/bisporangia are borne in conceptacles, produce apical plugs, develop beneath multiporate plates or roofs, and are not enclosed individually within calcified sporangial compartments. The Hapalidiaceae contains the subfamilies Choreonematoideae, Melobesioideae and Austrolithoideae, all formerly placed in the Corallinaceae sensu lato. The Choreonematoideae is represented in south-eastern Australia by a single species, Choreonema thuretii. The Melobesioideae is represented by five genera (Melobesia, Lithothamnion, Phymatolithon, Mesophyllum, Synarthrophyton) and eight species. Synarthrophyton pseudosorus sp. nov. is newly described. The presence of tetrasporangial conceptacles occurring in irregularly shaped dense clusters that contain both discrete conceptacles and fused groups of conceptacles delimits this species from all other species of Synarthrophyton. Morphological and anatomical accounts are provided, including keys, information on distribution, habitat and nomenclature. Brief biogeographic comparisons between south-eastern Australia and neighbouring regions are also made.

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The first monographic account of the south-eastern Australian representatives of the Corallinaceae, subfamily Mastophoroideae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) is presented. The Mastophoroideae contains eight extant genera, four of which [Hydrolithon, Mastophora, Neogoniolithon, Pneophyllum] were confirmed to occur in south-eastern Australia. Hydrolithon is represented by six species (H. farinosum, H. improcerum, H. munitum, H. onkodes, H. rupestre and H. samoënse). Pneophyllum is represented by three species (P. coronatum, P. fragile and P. submersiporum) while Mastophora and Neogoniolithon are represented by a single species each (Mastophora pacifica and Neogoniolithon brassica-florida). Morphological and anatomical accounts are provided, including keys to genera and species, comparisons with related south-eastern Australian mastophoroid species, information on distribution, seasonality, habitat and nomenclature. Brief biogeographical comparisons between south-eastern Australia and other Australasian regions are also made.