Caribbean Reef Plants

INTRODUCTION: The primary objective of this book is to make algal identification possible for ecologists, physiologists, chemists, geologists, coastal-zone managers or any other scientists, including both amateur and professional biologists. Our goal was to create a "user-friendly" identification guide to approximately 565 macrophytic marine plants of the Caribbean and adjacent waters, relying where possible on non-technical vegetative characteristics. Because of the rapid degradation of tropical reefs, it is imperative that they be studied from all aspects in a timely, efficient and scientifically verifiable manner. It is of paramount importance to characterize changes in the physical, chemical and living attributes of the coral reef environment and to understand the response of the biota to such changes. Marine plants from five diverse evolutionary lines dominate and, in conjunction with coelenterate corals, are the major primary producers and builders of all reef systems. Considering the critical role these organisms play in reef ecosystems, they must be taken into account in other fields of marine sciences whether it be the study of fisheries resources, marine chemistry, ecology, geology or any of the associated biological disciplines. We know all too little of the plant species on tropical reefs and how they interact with each other and with the abiotic and biotic components of their environment. Therefore, it is essential that marine scientists, regardless of discipline, have a usable means of accurately identifying the principal marine plants which form the basis of the food web and play major roles in building and maintaining living reef structures.

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