Diversity and composition of algal epiphytes on the Mediterranean seagrass Cymodocea nodosa:  a scale-based study

S Tsioli; V Papathanasiou; A Rizouli; Μ Kosmidou; C Katsaros; Ε Papastergiadou; Frithjof Kuepper; S Orfanidis

doi:10.1515/bot-2020-0057

Diversity and composition of algal epiphytes on the Mediterranean seagrass Cymodocea nodosa: a scale-based study

S Tsioli , V Papathanasiou , A Rizouli, Μ Kosmidou , C Katsaros, Ε Papastergiadou , Frithjof Kuepper, S Orfanidis ^* (Corresponding Author)

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Cymodocea nodosa, a typical marine angiosperm species in the Mediterranean Sea, hosts a range of epiphytic algae. Epiphyte abundance varies at different spatial scales, yet epiphyte diversity and community composition are poorly understood. This study explores the epiphytes on C. nodosa from two reference meadows (Thasos, Vrasidas) and one anthropogenically stressed meadow (Nea Karvali) in the northern Aegean Sea (Kavala Gulf, Greece). A nested destructive sampling design at three spatial scales (metres, hundreds of metres, kilometres) and stereoscopic/microscopic observations were used. Light microscopy revealed a total of 19 taxa of macroalgae populating the leaves of C. nodosa. The most commonly encountered taxa with highest cover (%) were Hydrolithon cruciatum and Feldmannia mitchelliae. DNA sequencing (18S rDNA) confirms the presence of a number of dinoflagellate and red algal epiphytes, and this represents the first application of DNA metabarcoding to study the diversity of seagrass epiphytes. Epiphytic communities studied at species/taxon and functional (Ecological Status Groups) levels separated the reference lowstressed meadows from the degraded one, with the functional approach having higher success. The Ecological Evaluation Index classified the studied meadows into different Ecological Status Classes according to anthropogenic stress.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	101-118
Number of pages	18
Journal	Botanica Marina
Volume	64
Issue number	2
Early online date	15 Mar 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2020-0057
Publication status	Published - 2021

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
This work has been conducted at the Fisheries Research Institute (ELGO DIMITRA) as an undergraduate dissertation of Soultana Tsioli at the University of Patras with supervisors Prof. E. Papastergiadou and Dr. S. Orfanidis. FCK received funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC, program Oceans 2025 – WP 4.5 and grants NE/D521522/1 and NE/J023094/1). Sequencing was conducted at the Molecular Genetics
Facility (MGF) of NERC, supported by grant MGF 154.

Keywords

Macroalgae
abundance
image analysis
functional groups
metabarcoding

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Tsioli_et_al_BM_DiversityAndCompositionOfAlgal_AAM
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Cite this

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title = "Diversity and composition of algal epiphytes on the Mediterranean seagrass Cymodocea nodosa: a scale-based study",

abstract = "Cymodocea nodosa, a typical marine angiosperm species in the Mediterranean Sea, hosts a range of epiphytic algae. Epiphyte abundance varies at different spatial scales, yet epiphyte diversity and community composition are poorly understood. This study explores the epiphytes on C. nodosa from two reference meadows (Thasos, Vrasidas) and one anthropogenically stressed meadow (Nea Karvali) in the northern Aegean Sea (Kavala Gulf, Greece). A nested destructive sampling design at three spatial scales (metres, hundreds of metres, kilometres) and stereoscopic/microscopic observations were used. Light microscopy revealed a total of 19 taxa of macroalgae populating the leaves of C. nodosa. The most commonly encountered taxa with highest cover (%) were Hydrolithon cruciatum and Feldmannia mitchelliae. DNA sequencing (18S rDNA) confirms the presence of a number of dinoflagellate and red algal epiphytes, and this represents the first application of DNA metabarcoding to study the diversity of seagrass epiphytes. Epiphytic communities studied at species/taxon and functional (Ecological Status Groups) levels separated the reference lowstressed meadows from the degraded one, with the functional approach having higher success. The Ecological Evaluation Index classified the studied meadows into different Ecological Status Classes according to anthropogenic stress.",

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author = "S Tsioli and V Papathanasiou and A Rizouli and Μ Kosmidou and C Katsaros and Ε Papastergiadou and Frithjof Kuepper and S Orfanidis",

note = "Acknowledgements This work has been conducted at the Fisheries Research Institute (ELGO DIMITRA) as an undergraduate dissertation of Soultana Tsioli at the University of Patras with supervisors Prof. E. Papastergiadou and Dr. S. Orfanidis. FCK received funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC, program Oceans 2025 – WP 4.5 and grants NE/D521522/1 and NE/J023094/1). Sequencing was conducted at the Molecular Genetics Facility (MGF) of NERC, supported by grant MGF 154. ",

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AU - Tsioli , S

AU - Papathanasiou , V

AU - Rizouli, A

AU - Kosmidou , Μ

AU - Katsaros, C

AU - Papastergiadou , Ε

AU - Kuepper, Frithjof

AU - Orfanidis , S

N1 - Acknowledgements This work has been conducted at the Fisheries Research Institute (ELGO DIMITRA) as an undergraduate dissertation of Soultana Tsioli at the University of Patras with supervisors Prof. E. Papastergiadou and Dr. S. Orfanidis. FCK received funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC, program Oceans 2025 – WP 4.5 and grants NE/D521522/1 and NE/J023094/1). Sequencing was conducted at the Molecular Genetics Facility (MGF) of NERC, supported by grant MGF 154.

PY - 2021

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N2 - Cymodocea nodosa, a typical marine angiosperm species in the Mediterranean Sea, hosts a range of epiphytic algae. Epiphyte abundance varies at different spatial scales, yet epiphyte diversity and community composition are poorly understood. This study explores the epiphytes on C. nodosa from two reference meadows (Thasos, Vrasidas) and one anthropogenically stressed meadow (Nea Karvali) in the northern Aegean Sea (Kavala Gulf, Greece). A nested destructive sampling design at three spatial scales (metres, hundreds of metres, kilometres) and stereoscopic/microscopic observations were used. Light microscopy revealed a total of 19 taxa of macroalgae populating the leaves of C. nodosa. The most commonly encountered taxa with highest cover (%) were Hydrolithon cruciatum and Feldmannia mitchelliae. DNA sequencing (18S rDNA) confirms the presence of a number of dinoflagellate and red algal epiphytes, and this represents the first application of DNA metabarcoding to study the diversity of seagrass epiphytes. Epiphytic communities studied at species/taxon and functional (Ecological Status Groups) levels separated the reference lowstressed meadows from the degraded one, with the functional approach having higher success. The Ecological Evaluation Index classified the studied meadows into different Ecological Status Classes according to anthropogenic stress.

AB - Cymodocea nodosa, a typical marine angiosperm species in the Mediterranean Sea, hosts a range of epiphytic algae. Epiphyte abundance varies at different spatial scales, yet epiphyte diversity and community composition are poorly understood. This study explores the epiphytes on C. nodosa from two reference meadows (Thasos, Vrasidas) and one anthropogenically stressed meadow (Nea Karvali) in the northern Aegean Sea (Kavala Gulf, Greece). A nested destructive sampling design at three spatial scales (metres, hundreds of metres, kilometres) and stereoscopic/microscopic observations were used. Light microscopy revealed a total of 19 taxa of macroalgae populating the leaves of C. nodosa. The most commonly encountered taxa with highest cover (%) were Hydrolithon cruciatum and Feldmannia mitchelliae. DNA sequencing (18S rDNA) confirms the presence of a number of dinoflagellate and red algal epiphytes, and this represents the first application of DNA metabarcoding to study the diversity of seagrass epiphytes. Epiphytic communities studied at species/taxon and functional (Ecological Status Groups) levels separated the reference lowstressed meadows from the degraded one, with the functional approach having higher success. The Ecological Evaluation Index classified the studied meadows into different Ecological Status Classes according to anthropogenic stress.

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KW - image analysis

KW - functional groups

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ER -