Management Information
The University of Hawai‘i was awarded a $60,000 grant from the Hawai‘i Coral Reef Initiative. The grant will be used to fund research being carried out to control five separate invasive species in Hawai‘i including H. musciformis (Leone, 2001).In Brazil H. musciformis is harvested as a source of K-carrageenan. The scope of what researchers and scientists must overcome is partially revealed in Faccini and Berchez's (2000) research. The authors found that H. musciformis has a recovery rate of 87% each month after harvest. This allows a crop every 35 days. For control mechanisms to be devised, scientists must overcome this extremely rapid growth rate. The growth rates obtained from the authors study reveal nearly 15% growth per day and are supported by cultivation experiments developed in the same region. In fact H. musciformis recovery is also much faster than in other economically important seaweeds growing in the same area, such as Pterocladiella capillacea, that take nearly 6 months per crop harvest (Faccini and Berchez, 2000).
Management Resources/Links
1. Faccini, A. L., F. Berchez. 2000. Management of natural beds and standing stock evaluation of Hypnea musciformis (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta) in south-eastern Brazil. Journal of Applied Phycology. 12(2): 101-103. Results Page: 1
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