2005). Species richness (S) describes the number of species in the assemblage, while evenness took into account the variation in the abundance of individuals per species in the assemblage. Species evenness was calculated using the Pielou’s evenness index (J’). We fitted two linear models to each of the biological responses examined. One had presence/absence (P/A) of S. muticum selleck kinase inhibitor and species richness as predictors, and the second model had P/A of S. muticum and species evenness as predictors. Additionally, we re-analyzed respiration and alpha data after normalizing values per assemblage biomass, in order to consider the efficiency of the assemblages. All the models analyzed main and interactive

effects of the predictive variables. When interaction terms were nonsignificant, models were re-run without the interaction. In order to obtain the minimum adequate model, nonsignificant main effects were also removed from the model and thus only significant effects

are shown in the correspondent table. However, for a better understanding, we distinguished between native and invaded assemblages in all the figures, even when the factor native versus invaded assemblages was nonsignificant. The coefficient of variation (CV) in an assemblage’s light-use efficiency, alpha, was quantified for native and invaded assemblages in May (i.e., the period of high biomass of the invader). CV was calculated see more as the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean (CV = σ/μ) and was used as a measure of spatial variation. General linear models were carried out using the linear model function (lm) in the R-program 2.15.0 (R Development Core Team 2012). In November 2010, we were only able to locate 37 macroalgal assemblage plates. These were Etofibrate collected from the intertidal pool to perform laboratory incubations and re-deployed

in the shore. In May 2011, we were able to locate 55 macroalgal assemblages. Algal assemblages varied in species richness, total biomass, and biomass of the invader. The presence of S. muticum did not affect the relationship between species richness and any biological response measured (F3,33 = 1.27, P = 0.30, R2 = 0.10). Moreover, no significant relationship was found between any biological response measured and species richness (see Table S1 in the Supporting Information). However, when species evenness was considered as the predictor variable, both respiration and alpha response functions showed a significant negative relationship (F1,35 = 5.61, P = 0.02, R2 = 0.14, and F1,35 = 14.00, P = 0.001, R2 = 0.28, respectively; Fig. 1). In addition, the presence of S. muticum did not affect any of the macroalgal biological responses measured (see Table S1 in the Supporting Information). In May 2011, the biomass of the invader ranged between 0 and 163.38 g DW (3.58 ± 2.91 g DW) per 64 cm2. Moreover, biomass of Corallina spp., S. muticum and C.