Impacts of the invasive alga Sargassum muticum on ecosystem functioning and food web structure

Abstract

Biological invasions have the potential to cause severe alterations to the biodiversity of natural ecosystems. At the same time, variation in the diversity and composition of native communities may have an important influence on the impact of invasions. Here, effects of the invasive Japanese wireweed, Sargassum muticum, were tested across a range of native marine algal assemblages using a combined additive and substitutive design. The invasive alga significantly reduced primary production, an important component of ecosystem functioning, and increased connectance, a key property of the food webs associated with the algal resources. These impacts were mediated by changes in the proportions of intermediate and top species, as well as apparent reductions in faunal species richness and diversity. Some key alterations to faunal species composition (including the arrival of generalist species associated with S. muticum) may have been important in determining these patterns. Overall results suggest that S. muticum not only directly impeded the native algal community, but that these effects extended indirectly to the native fauna and therefore caused major changes throughout the ecosystem.