Caulerpa taxifolia (M. Vahl) C. Agardh

Davidson, Alisha D., Campbell, Marnie L., Hewitt, Chad L. & Schaffelke, Britta, 2015, Assessing the impacts of nonindigenous marine macroalgae: an update of current knowledge, Botanica Marina (Warsaw, Poland) 58 (2), pp. 55-79 : 62

Caulerpa taxifolia

Research effort on the ecological impacts of Caulerpa taxifolia decreased relative to other invasive macroalgae, and the geographic focus shifted in large part from the Mediterranean Sea (1 study in this review) to Australia (12 studies in this review). However, this species continued to affect the diversity ( Gallucci et al. 2012, Bishop and Kelaher 2013), growth, condition, and survival ( Gribben et al. 2009) of invertebrates. Gribben et al. (2013) found that faunal impacts varied by community: C. taxifolia had a negative effect on infauna but a positive effect on epifauna. It also affected higher trophic levels by providing a less attractive food source to herbivores ( Gollan and Wright 2006, Burfeind et al. 2009) and a less attractive fish habitat ( York et al. 2006) relative to native macroalgae.