Geographic Differences in Herbivore Impact: Do Pacific Herbivores Prevent Caribbean Seaweeds From Colonizing Via the Panama Canal?

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Abstract
Several dominant, shallow-water seaweeds from the Caribbean are physiologically capable of transiting the freshwater of the Panama Canal, surviving both the marked salinity changes and the required time spent in freshwater. Some of these species are known to settle and grow on boat bottoms, thus providing a direct method for transport through the canal. They are rare or absent on the Pacific coast. The primary barrier to the successful transport and establishment of these species appears to be herbivore activity and the lack of reef-generated refuge areas on the Pacific coast, not the salinity of the Panama Canal.

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