The influence of upwelling on South African west coast seaweeds

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Upwelling from the Benguela Current system on the South African west coast has produced a seaweed flora distinct from that in the region east of Cape Agulhas. The origins of the major red algal component of the West Coast flora appear to be in temperate and polar regions of the southern Pacific Ocean, whereas the South and East Coast floras are more closely related to the floras of the tropical Indian Ocean and of South and West Australia. Although the West Coast flora has a high degree of endemism, recent evidence suggests that events since the initiation of the Benguela system < 12 million years ago have been crucial in its formation. Evidence on the effects of upwelling on growth and physiology suggests that rapid irregular fluctuations in temperature and nutrients on the West Coast have little effect on the strongly seasonal patterns of development, which are probably brought about by aspects of the light regime. Variations in light intensity in the sublittoral caused by upwelling or downwelling conditions appear to have relatively minor effects on seaweed production. Little is known of the effects of high concentrations of available nutrients in upwelled water, although the kelp Ecklonia maxima appears to have evolved both morphologically and physiologically to the West Coast conditions.