species in each division (1979-1985) ranged from 44-47% for reds, browns 25-27%, and greens 26-30% 

 (Table 4), but the proportions of reds, browns, and greens vary seasonally (Table 2). Reds are more 

 prevalent, but especially so in August- December; browns are less prevalent than reds or greens, but have 

 their highest percentages in February-May; greens are proportionally most common in May-July. The 

 overall number of species in each phylum is 73 reds, 40 browns, and 45 greens (all stations, all years); 

 their proportion is 46:25:29 (Table 4). 



The local flora, when represented as percent occurrence of reds, browns, and greens, is consistent with 

 those reported by other researchers in the northwest Atlantic (Vadas 1972; Schneider et al. 1979; Mathieson 

 et al. 1981; Mathieson and Hehre 1986). Vadas (1972) reported the proportion 45:32:23 on an open coast 

 in Maine. Mathieson et al. (1981), working in the Great Bay estuary system and adjacent open coast of 

 New Hampshire- Maine, reported the proportion 47:28:25, and Mathieson and Hehre (1986) updated this 

 study reporting a New Hampshire open coast proportion of 43:31:26. In a checklist of Connecticut algae 

 (including intertidal and subtidal species), Schneider et al. (1979) reported a proportion of 45:26:29, which 

 included 188 species, not including varieties and forms. Proportionally, the Connecticut marine flora as 

 determined by Schneider, is virtually identical to our own. 



Exceptions to spatial and temporal trends are evident in the Fox Island -Exposed qualitative collections 

 after the opening of the second quarry cut in August 1983. The average number of species per monthly 

 collection was 31 from March 1979 to August 1983, and dropped to 28 in the year following the opening 

 of the second cut. A sharper drop in species richness occurred after August-September 1984. An average 

 of 18 species per month was collected from September 1984 to February 1986, and in October 1984, only 

 10 species of algae were collected from FE (the collection with lowest number of species from any station 

 in any month since the beginning of the study). Species richness decreased because physiological limits 

 of many species were exceeded; water temperatures at Fox Island exceeded 28 °C in August-September 

 1984 (NliSC^o 1985; also Appendix RS IV, Ecological Significance of Community Changes at Fox Island). 

 Community changes resulting from elevated water temperatures included the loss of established populations 

 of perennial macroalgae [Chondrus crispus, Fucus vesiculosus, Ascophyllum nodosum) and associated 

 epiphytes, and increased abundance and persistence of opportunistic species {Codium fragile, Enteromorpha 

 spp., Po/ysiphonia spp.). The changes were evidenced both as a loss of species, and a shift in relative 

 divisional proportions. From March 1979-August 1983 (prior to the second cut opening), 105 species were 

 reported at FE; 70 species were reported from September 1983- August 1984, the first year after the second 



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