Abstract
While surveying plants and algae on the Chesapeake Bay side of the Eastern Shore of Maryland (USA), we encountered an unexpected green alga in shallow estuarine waters of Somerset County. A morphological investigation confirmed that it was Batophora oerstedii, a species previously known from the Caribbean and Bahamas, and not known north of Florida along the eastern coast of the United States until now. Repeated observation of several populations over the past five years confirmed that B. oerstedii has become established in Maryland waters. We hypothesize that global climate change may have contributed to the establishment of B. oerstedii in Chesapeake Bay. The impact of this introduced seaweed here merits additional study.
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Acknowledgements
Portions of this work were completed while JDH was employed by the University of Maryland. We would like to thank Wayne Longbottom for assistance in the field. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their feedback on the manuscript.
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Hall, J.D., Schneider, C.W. The unexpected occurrence of a persistent population of the tropical green alga Batophora oerstedii (Ulvophyceae, Dasycladales) in Maryland waters. Brittonia 75, 103–108 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12228-022-09735-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12228-022-09735-7