University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2006 Predicting Risks Of Invasion Of Caulerpa Species In Florida Christian Glardon University of Central Florida Part of the Biology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. STARS Citation Glardon, Christian, "Predicting Risks Of Invasion Of Caulerpa Species In Florida" (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 840. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/840 PREDICTING RISKS OF INVASION OF CAULERPA SPECIES IN FLORIDA by CHRISTIAN GEORGES GLARDON B.S. University of Lausanne, Switzerland A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2006 ABSTRACT Invasions of exotic species are one of the primary causes of biodiversity loss on our planet (National Research Council 1995). In the marine environment, all habitat types including estuaries, coral reefs, mud flats, and rocky intertidal shorelines have been impacted (e.g. Bertness et al. 2001). Recently, the topic of invasive species has caught the public’s attention. In particular, there is worldwide concern about the aquarium strain of the green alga Caulerpa taxifolia (Vahl) C. Agardh that was introduced to the Mediterranean Sea in 1984 from the Monaco Oceanographic Museum.