Title : Monitoring alpha and beta diversity of marine seaweeds in selected areas in the Red Sea
Abstract:
The Red Sea is one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. More than 900 taxa of macroalgae have been identified in the Red Sea from all its coasts. However, being a dynamic corridor linking the Indo-Pacific Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal, algal alteration needs continuous monitoring for appropriate tracking of the possible biodiversity shifts. The current study uses both morphological and molecular identification tools to highlight the latest macroalgal spatial and temporal variations in the Egyptian Red Sea coast (From Zaafarana to Marsa Alam). The correlation between our findings and the previous research is also discussed. The introduction of new species, such as Caulerpa racemosa and Gracilaria sp. was recorded, which supports previous, in addition to the introduction of new reports such as the rare species Rhodachlya madagascarensis. Preliminary results supported the notion that brown algae dominate in cooler weather throughout the year, although red macrophytes prevailed during hot seasons, even with temperatures reported to be + 41 oC and cold seasons, with temperature +11 oC. Green algae, on the other hand, mainly showed normal distribution during various seasons. Our study showed the dominance alteration within the different seasons and sites along the Red Sea coast and the variation of algal taxa within the same group based on different areas and seasons. The study also addressed the challenges we faced while using the molecular tools, starting from keeping the vulnerable samples intact until further processing, to targeting the appropriate database, for obtaining the most curated and acceptable data, that matches our morphological findings.
To our knowledge, many reports discussed the algal variations in the Suez Canal and the neighboring distinctive sites along the shores. However, this will be the first Egyptian study to cover the algal taxa along 400 Km in a two-year study at a time, using both morphological and molecular keys.
