THE Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies (IMEDEA) will study the effects of invasive seaweed on Balearic coastal fauna, a project which will take three years to complete. It is part of a wider research project into new species of algae in Balearic waters which started in September.
Samples are being taken, and will be compared with information compiled in the winter when algae have the least development, according to scientist Jorge Terrados. He added that a comparison would be made between the areas where the invasive algae, not native to the Balearics, are found, and places where they have not yet proliferated. The invasive algae include the caulerpa taxifolia which is found off Cala d'Or. It is from the tropics and was accidentally released into the Mediterranean from a laboratory in Monaco in the 1980s.
New project to study invasive seaweed