Abstract
The green alga Ulva lactuca is the dominant green sea weed found in estuaries of the northwestern Atlantic (New England, Welsh et al., 1982; Hudson River, pers. obs.) and might be expected to be an important component of the base of the estuarine fish food web. However, casual observations of fresh thalli deposited in the intertidal zone reveal relatively little evidence of animal associations. Further, more detailed studies investigating animal-U. lactuca associations suggest that the plants are detrimental to some animals. Ulva is toxic to some estuarine crab larvae in two ways: first, it is so abundant that it depletes dissolved oxygen, which leads to mortalities; and second, it emits toxic substances into the water (Johnson & Welsh, 1985). Further, Ulva effluents inhibit males' responses to female chemical attractants in the amphipod Microdeutopus gryllotalpa (Costa, 1853) (Borowsky et al., 1987).
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