Green macroalgal blooms have substantially altered marine community structure and function, specifically by smothering seagrasses and other primary producers that are critical to commercial fisheries and by creating anoxic conditions in enclosed embayments. Bottom-up factors are viewed as the primary drivers of these blooms, but increasing attention has been paid to biotic controls of species composition. In Washington State, USA, blooms are often dominated by Ulva spp. intertidally and Ulvaria obscura subtidally. Factors that could cause this spatial difference were examined, including competition, grazer preferences, salinity, photoacclimation, nutrient requirements, and responses to nutrient enrichment. Ulva specimens grew faster than Ulvaria in intertidal chambers but not significantly faster in subtidal chambers. Ulva was better able to acclimate to a high-light environment and was more tolerant of low salinity than Ulvaria. Ulvaria had higher tissue N content, chlorophyll, chlorophyll b: chlorophyll a, and protein content than Ulva. These differences suggest that nitrogen availability could affect species composition. A suite of five grazers preferred Ulva to Ulvaria in choice experiments. Thus, bottom-up factors allow Ulva to dominate the intertidal zone while resistance to grazers appears to allow Ulvaria to dominate the subtidal zone. While ulvoid algae are in the same functional-form group, they are not functionally redundant.

No abstract

On northeastern Pacific coasts, Ulvaria obscura is a dominant component of subtidal "green tide" blooms, which can be harmful to marine communities, fisheries, and aquaculture facilities. U. obscura is avoided by herbivores relative to many other locally common macrophytes, which may contribute to its ability to form persistent blooms. We used a bioassay-guided fractionation method to experimentally determine the cause of reduced feeding on Ulvaria by echinoderms, molluscs, and arthropods. Our results indicated that dopamine, which constituted an average of 4.4% of the alga's dry mass, was responsible for decreased feeding by sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis). Subsequent experiments demonstrated that dopamine also reduced the feeding rates of snails (Littorina sitkana) and isopods (Idotea wosnesenskii). Dopamine is a catecholamine that is a common neurotransmitter in animals. The catecholamines dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), and norepinephrine also occur in at least 44 families of higher plants. The functions of catecholamines in plants are less well known than in animals but are likely to be diverse and include both physiological and ecological roles. Our results are the first experimental demonstration of a plant or algal catecholamine functioning as a feeding deterrent. This novel use of dopamine by Ulvaria may contribute to the formation and persistence of harmful Ulvaria blooms in northeastern Pacific coastal waters.

Relatively little is known about the causes of species distribution within macroalgal blooms occurring on or over soft substrata. We examine the roles of aerial exposure and desiccation in determining elevational patterns of two dominant bloom-forming ulvoid algae, Ulva lactuca and Ulvaria obscura, on the northeastern Pacific coast. These species were stressed with constant desiccation time, desiccation to a constant water potential, and desiccation to a fixed water loss. As a measure of health, we examined net photosynthesis by oxygen evolution or photosynthetic yield via pulse amplitude modulated fluorometry. By all measures, Ulva was physiologically superior in the intertidal zone. Under constant exposure, it desiccated more slowly than Ulvaria. When desiccated to a constant dryness, Ulva better maintained photosynthetic parameters. These observations are consistent with Ulva's usual dominance over Ulvaria in intertidal macroalgal blooms. Given these and other observed differences between the two species, natural resource managers should not regard the two as ecologically equivalent, even though they have similar functional forms.

Many temperate green macroalgae contain secondary meatbolites that provide protection from grazing by some herbivores. These include the production of dopamine hydrochloride by the ulvoid green alga Ulvaria obscura and the production of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) by many species of Ulvales and Caulerpales. The dopamine hydrochloride defense was isolated using bioassay‐guided fractionation and is effective against sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) and littorinid snails (Littorina sitkana). The DMSP activated defense system involves enzymatic cleavage of DMSP into dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and acrylic acid. It is found in many of the Ulvales and several species of Codium in the northeastern Pacific and Australasian regions. Many green algae such as Ulva fenestrata and Enteromorpha linza are avoided by urchins, which are deterred by DMS and acrylic acid in laboratory assays. However, these algae are often preferred foods of snails, which are deterred by DMS and acrylic acid. Snails may preferentially consume ulvoid green algae, despite being deterred by DMS and acrylic acid, because these algae contain relatively high nitrogen concentrations.