New Records of Marine Algal Species Collected From Some Localities of Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar Coastline, Libya

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Marine algal communities suffered from various anthropogenic activities, such as the impacts of uncontrolled exploitation of bodies, introduction of exotic species and global climate change, which can modify the natural distribution patterns of seaweeds along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea (USEPA, 2003).Aquaria trade and routine ship operations are considered as possible vectors for the invasion of algal species to new habitats.In particular, marine pollution affecting the Libyan ecosystem health enhances and flourishes the exotic algal species (Bazairi et al., 2013).
The libyan marine algal studies began in 1878 by Piccone, who started the first scientific expedition along the Libyan coast and recorded 5 algal species (Nizamuddin, et al. 1978).After that, extensive studies had been done until 1978 where, Nizamuddin, et al. (1978) recorded 178 marine algal species as well as Godeh et al. (1992) who recorded 169 marine algal species at eastern coast of Libya (Cyrenaica).In spite of the richness in marine algal species inhabiting Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar coastline, there are no mentionable studies on such species at the target area.So, the prelude study was planned to screen and document the new macroalgal species that likely appeared on some sites of the coastline of Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Study area:
The study area lies on the Mediterranean coast in north eastern Libya.Remittent and random surveys were carried out in 7 sites (S1-S7) during the period October 2012 to April 2013 (Fig. 1).Some of these sites receiving anthropogenic wastes, like sewage discharges and rubbish whereas, some others are clean (Table 1).

Sample collection
Macroalgal specimens were handpicked from studied sites during low tide, rinsed thoroughly with seawater on-site, placed in plastic bags and transferred to the laboratory as soon as possible.The collected samples were specifically identified to the species level, while still alive in most cases.The nomenclature of algal species followed mainly the different taxonomical keys of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS Editorial Board, 2013), contributing databases (Algae Base) and Abbott (1999).

Calculation of Frequency
Frequency of macroalgae was calculated by the quadrate technique associated to the point interception according to Krebs (1989).

Water quality and Trophic status
Physico-chemical properties of water samples (temperature, pH, TDS and DO) in each site were measured by portable meters.Marine water quality and trophic status of the present sites were evaluated from the main parameter (DO) based on the Applied Algal Research Laboratory Physical and Chemical score (AARL PC score) Table (2) according to Lorraine and Vollenweider (1981).Meanwhile, the values of TDS seemed mostly similar in all sites under investigation throughout the experimental period (ranged between 34.1and 35.6 gl -1 , the little elevation in S4 may be attributed to the salt discharge of the desalination plant into the surrounding seawater.Finally, DO concentrations varied between the greatest value (8.7 mgl -1 ) at S7 in February 2013 and smallest value (4.8 mgl -1 ) at S6 and S3 during February and April 2013, respectively.The drop of DO in S6 may be attributed to sewage impacts.In agreement with these results, Gallup et al. (1970) reported that DO of water with the range of 4.6 -4.8 mgl -1 is considered polluted.The present results reveal that there were clear spatial and temporal variations in pH, TDS and DO.These variations may be resulted in a great variation in macroalgal species.In this accordance, Dhargalkar and Kavlekar (2004) concluded that light exposure, salinity, nutrients, depth, temperature, tides and the shore nature determine the distribution and variety of seaweeds.
Totally, the overall trophic status of the studied localities seemed to be clean (oligotrophic) (Table 4).However, water quality and trophic status were really very clean (ultraoligotrophic) in S4 and S7, clean (oligotrophic) in S1 and S5, moderate (oligotrophic) in S2 and moderate polluted (mesoeutrophic) in S3 and S6.

Morphological and biological notes on macroalgal taxa
The alien /new record macroalgae were detected, during the evaluation of pollution status using biomonitors at Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar coastline.Reviewing the previous lists of marine algal species, it is confirmed that the target algal species were not recorded before for the Libyan coastline algal flora including that of Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar.Alien species that recorded in the present study for the first time are Champia parvula (Agardh) Harvey, Penicillus dumetosus (Lamouroux) Blainville, Thuretella schousboei (Thuret) F. Schmitz, Vaucheria piloboloides Thuret, Cladophora laetevirens (Dillwyn) Kützing, Lithophyllum incrustans Philippi and Corallina pilulifera Postels & Ruprecht.These species were identified (Plates 1-6) and brief morphological and biological notes were given as follows:

Champia parvula (Agardh) Harvey
Ch. parvula is a small red alga (3 to 8 cm long), with rather short, alternate tapered branches (Plate 1).It grows on hard bottoms in the shallow sublittoral zone, and appears as a bushy, branching, dull red-brown plant, with axis and branches coarsely segmented.Segments are as broad or broader than long.

Penicillus dumetosus (Lamouroux) Blainville
P. dumetosus, named Neptune's Shaving Brush, has a thick stalk crowned with a tuft of green non-calcified filaments (Plate 2).It is short-lived (only few weeks).Yet new growths will occur within a short distance of the main stalk.Its stalk is shorter and the head larger and looser than P. capitatus.It inhabits sandy bottom and shallow warm water, exposing to sunlight most of day, in sheltered cavity where Dasycladus grows in Al-Hanyaa rocky shore.

Vaucheria piloboloides Thuret
V. piloboloides, marine taxa, was found as clumps attached to rocks, forming considerable mats.It is bright green coenocytic with irregularly branches (Plate 4) i.e. a siphon consists of multinucleate, branched tubes without cross walls, but these occasionally occur.A large vacuole and chloroplasts occupied the central part of the filament, tending to be parietal and aligned parallel to the axis.

Cladophora laetevirens (Dillwyn) Kützing
Cl. laetevirens consists of light green stalk and dark delicate filaments, fixes to the substrate with rhizoids.It forms dense tufts 2-10 cm high with pseudo-dichotomous axes (Plate 5).It is generally sparse in the middle portion of the stalk, becoming dense at apex.Filament tapered slightly, branched from every cell in the apical portions, with falcate and unilateral branchlets.The intercalary divisions in the mid and lower thallus cells, separating the laterals by 2-6 cells.New laterals,1-3(-4) for each parent cell, often arise at about 45 °; below intercalated cross walls, later becoming almost horizontal.

Calcareous structures: Lithophyllum incrustans Philippi and Corallina pilulifera Postels & Ruprecht
C. pilulifera is a red alga with hard, abrasive calcareous skeletons.It is stiff, branched plant with articulations (Plate 6A & B).It grows in isolated patches associated with L. incrustans, on the rocky substrate of Al-Hanyaa intertidal zone nearby the outlet pipe, where strong waves occur.Whenever corallina alga is growing, the rock surfaces appear pink.C .pilulifera was not detected in any clean site.It was collected from only one polluted site of Al-Hanyaa rocky shore, adjacent to sewer pipe.Plate (6 B) showed the assemblages of the calcareous structures of L. incrustans and its allied C. pilulifera.L. incrustans is an encrusting coralline algae that grows forming a tapestry on hard substrates in the littoral zone.It is thick, dull chalky, pink or lavender calcareous crusts forming irregular concretions, up to 40 mm thick, margins ridged where crusts meet (Plate 6 C).It grows on rocky shore, in lower intertidal semi-exposed region, of Al-Hanyaa (S6) that is partially exposed to the swinging of the waves.Its petals, striking violet color, can reach a diameter of 10 cm.When young, they are set fully to the surface, while as they age edge-lifting, undulate and become thicker.It can live among other algae, molluscs, etc.As for L. incrustans, it was not detected in any clean site.The algae are embraced by Lithophyllum and looming as whitish-pink patches.

Taxonomy and distribution of alien macroalgal species
The previous results reveal that six macroalgal species were determined for the first time as new records for the Libyan algal flora.As presented in Table 5, these species are grouped under three divisions namely, Chlorophyta (2 species: Cl. laetevirens and P. dumetosus), Rhodophyta (3 species: Ch. parvula, C. pilulifera and Th.schousboei) and Heterokontophyta (Xanthophyta, 1 species: V. piloboloides).These exotic species were distributed among the studied localities as follow: C. pilulifera and Ch.parvula were determined at S6 and Th.Schousboei, Cl. laetevirens and P. dumetosus were detected at S7. While, V. piloboloides was collected from S5 (Table 6).This increment in number of Rhodophyta agrees with the findings of Nizamuddin, et al. (1978) and Godeh et al. (1992), who recorded excess number of Rhodophyta than Chlorophyta at north eastern Libyan coastline.
It is worthily mentioned as indicated in Table 6 that the species Chaetomorpha linum (S2), Bangia atropurpurea (S3) and L. incrustans (S6) were new records for Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar coastline algal flora, however, they were previously recorded in Tripoli, Benghazi and Ain Ghazala by Nizamuddin et al. (1978) and Godeh et al. (1992).L. incrustans (5%), C. pilulifera (2%) and C. racemosa var.cylindracea (1%).The remaining macroalgal species were scarcely recorded, sharing a frequency percentage of 0.05%.This may be attributed to that the exotic species may take some time to establish, spread and / or overgrow on the native macrophyte species in the invaded area.The exotic C. racemosa var.cylindracea replaced the dominant seagrass community, Posidonia oceanica, in much of the Mediterranean coastline within six years (Bazairi et al., 2013).The same author cited that, after 23 years of C. racemosa var.cylindracea discovery in Libya, it is present all around the Mediterranean Basin and in the close Atlantic Ocean.

Acclimatization status of alien macroalgal species
The sites S1, S2, S3, S5 and S7 are characterized by sandy beaches with sandy bottoms and rocky patches as well as sandy gravel (S1 and S7), whereas S4 and S6 are more rugged with little sandy beaches and a dominance of cliffs and rocky shores (Table 6).The nature of locality studied, the differences in nature of rocky shore composition, the sewage pollutants discharged into some of these sites and suitable environmental conditions enable exotic algal species introduced by shipping, aquaria trade and migrant fish or other animals, to grow, acclimate and spread on Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar coast, forming a variant composition.The acclimatization status of alien macroalgal species may be established, casual, questionable, cryptogenic or invasive in the Mediterranean (Bazairi et al., 2013).
Although the range of P. dumetosus is South Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean, it was detected in Al-Hanyaa site (S7) in sheltered cavity which exposed to sunlight most of day time.This may attribute to aquaria trade, shipping (ballast water) and animal migration which enable it to introduce into Mediterranean Sea reaching the Libyan coastline.
C. racemosa var.cylindracea, the most invaders to the Mediterranean, was first observed in Libya (Tajora, Tripoli) in 1990 on sandy rocky platforms (Nizamuddin, 1991).Secondly, it was recorded by Bazairi et al. (2013) at El-Kouf National Park, Libya.In the present study, C. racemosa var.cylindracea was found to be associated with Dictyota dichotoma and Corallina sp. in small patches less than one meter, on sandy sediment adjacent to sewage discharges at S6 during winter 2013.It is expected that, the exotic C. racemosa var.cylindracea will spread by time to affect the native macroalgal species.
Calcareous structures of L. incrustans and its allied C. pilulifera, create a highly heterogeneous substratum, independently of the kind of bottom on which they develop.This heterogeneity increases the variability of assemblages by creating microhabitats with different environmental conditions and influencing the recruitment and the spread of benthic species.
It must be noted that a few Vaucheria species are completely restricted to marine environments (Schneider et al., 1999).It was registered for the first time on a rocky substratum at Al-Hamama region on the north-eastern coast of Libya.It is worthily mentioned that, B. atropurpurea was found as epiphytic on Sargassum sp. in polluted site (S3).Also, Ch. parvula, was found to be attached to a rocky substrate adjacent to sewage discharge at S6, consequently, they may be used as water quality bioindicators, as they were not recorded at clean sites.On the other hand, Cl. laetevirens was found to inhabit both sites at Al-Hanyaa "as a pelt in the clean site (S7) and patches in the polluted site (S6).In addition, Chaeto.linum formed a patch attached to a rocky substrate that submerged under water at Susa port (S2).

Pollution status of the study area
The studied region has unique weather, sandy beaches and rocky shore coasts at majority of its sites, which attract several recreation activities such as fishing hobby.Some sites (S1, S2, S4, S5 and S7) are formed from open beaches, and others (S3 and S6) are semi-isolated and difficult to eliminate the different pollutants, such as sewage, industrial, anthropogenic, agronomic wastes.As mentioned above, water quality classified as very clean (S4 and S7), clean (S1 and S5), moderate clean (S2) and moderate polluted (S3 and S6), while, the corresponded trophic status varied between ultraoligotrophic and mesoeutrophic (Table 4).

Fig. 1 :
Fig. 1: Map showing the localities of the study sites (from Ras Hailal to Al-Hanyaa), Libya.

Table 1 :
General characteristics of the seven studied sites at Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar coastline.

Table 2 :
Applied Algal Research Laboratory Physical and Chemical Score (AARL PC score) for DO.

Table 4 :
Water quality and trophic status based on AARL PC score in 7 sites at Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar coastline, Libya.

Table 7 :
Arévalo et al. (2007)uency of new record macroalgae collected form the eastern Libyan coastline during the period of October 2012 and April 2013.Based onArévalo et al. (2007)findings, Corallina-dominated intermediate levels of nutrient enrichment habitats, consequently, the obtained C. racemosa var.cylindracea which associated with Corallina sp., may be classified as intermediate levels of nutrient enrichment habitant.CONCLUSION Twelve macroalgal species belong to Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta and Heterokontophyta were determined as new record species for Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar coastline.Of these species, Chlorophyta was represented by five species, Rhodophyta by six species and Heterokontophyta by only one species.Six species (C .pilulifera,Ch.parvula, Th. schousboei, P. dumetosus, Cl. laetevirens and V. piloboloides) were identified as new records for the Libyan algal flora for the first time.Three species, Chaeto.linum,B. atropurpurea and Lithophyllum incrustans were recorded as new records for Al-Jabel Al-Akhdar coastline for the first time whereas, Boerg.fruticulosa,C. racemosa var.cylindracea and D. vermicularis were recorded as new record, for the study area and for the second time outside.B. atropurpurea, Ch. parvula, C. pilulifera, L. incrustans, C. racemosa var.cylindracea and Chaeto.linumwere restricted to polluted seawater.Most exotic species were found to belong to Rhodophyta.Water quality classified as very clean (S4 and S7), clean (S1 and S5), moderate clean (S2) and moderate polluted (S3and S6), while, the corresponded trophic status varied between ultraoligotrophic and mesoeutrophic.The attained results pave the way to the establishment of a complete precise *N.R: New Record; S.R: Second Record.