MACROALGAS ASOCIADAS A LAS RAÍCES DE RHIZOPHORA MANGLE L. EN LA PENÍNSULA DE PARAGUANÁ, ESTADO FALCÓN, VENEZUELA.

Abstract

The submerged area of mangrove roots, especially Rhizophora mangle L., hosts a diverse community ofmacroalgae and other sessile organisms. The study deals with macroalgal communities associated with R. mangle in theParaguaná Peninsula, northwest of Venezuela. Two sites were selected for this study: Yaima Bay, an open-waters inlet locatednear a coral reef, seagrass beds, mudflats, and sandbanks; and a location in Tiraya Lagoon, a hypersaline coastal body of water.Forty species of macroalgae were identified: 22 Chlorophyta, 13 Rhodophyta, 3 Ochrophyta (class Phaeophyceae) and 2Cyanobacteria, all of them representing new registries for Paraguaná Peninsula, and 14 constituting new additions to thephycoflora of Falcón state. The variety found in Yaima (38 species) is larger than that of Tiraya Lagoon. Both sites also differin composition: Yaima has 55% Chlorophyta and 32% Rhodophyta whereas Tiraya has 67% Rhodophyta. In both locations,the largest variety of species was found in the distal portion of the mangle roots. In addition to the algae commonly found inmangroves, many psammophile and coraline varieties, as well as an invasive species (Ulva reticulata Forsskäl) were discovered.The richness in species in Yaima Bay can be explained by both the stable salinity of its waters and its proximity to severalmarine habitats, which feed the mangroves with a particular influx of spores. At Tiraya Lagoon, on the contrary, farther awayfrom those habitats, a hypersaline barrier poses an obstacle to colonization.