Week 10- PP

Ulva lactuca and Gigartina canaliculata are two seaweeds that interact within their shared environment. In an experiment scientists observed, tracked, and graphically represented the presence of  G.canaliculata in two separate scenarios, one in which U. Lactuca was removed from the environment and one in which  U. Lactuca was present. In the presence of U. Lactuca G.canaliculata was able to thrive in environment with a significant number of recruits, while the removal of  U. Lactuca resulted in low recruitment for G.canaliculata. This shows the effect of Ulva on Gigartina can be characterized by a facilitative successional mechanism. Facilitative succession is defined by a scenario in which one species allows for the growth of successive species in an environment, this appears to be the case here as the presence of U. Lactuca results in the growth of G.canaliculata and its removal causes the recruitment of G.canaliculata to decrease significantly in comparison to the. Since  U. Lactuca allows G.canaliculata to grow more in comparison to the alternative situation where U. Lactuca is not present, this positive relationship between the two species can be seen as facilitative in nature.