Seasonal growth rate of Sargassum species at Teluk Kemang, Port Dickson, Malaysia

The seasonal growth rates of three Sargassum species were studied along two reef flats of Teluk Kemang, located at Port Dickson, Malaysia from September 2009 to September 2010. Systematic quadrat and line transects were sampled monthly. Nondestructive sampling was conducted, whereby Sargassum plants were tagged and monitored for a 13-month period. The majority of the tagged Sargassum samples belonged to lower length classes (<200 mm), especially in 0–99 mm (Sargassum polycystum, 64.20 %; Sargassum binderi, 68.29 %; Sargassum siliquosum, 56.80 %). Analysis of the monthly mean thallus length (MTL) revealed a bimodal pattern in growth rates, with two periods of high growth rates (January–February 2010 and June–July 2010) and two periods of higher degenerative rates (April 2010 and September 2010). The highest growth rates were recorded in February 2010 (4.08 mm day−1) for S. siliquosum, and in June for S. polycystum (2.54 mm day−1) and S. binderi (1.89 mm day−1). Redundancy analysis (RDA) was employed to test for the overall correlation between monthly variation in MTL and the environmental parameters measured; S. binderi was correlated with ambient temperature (r = 0.5395), while S. siliquosum was correlated with seawater salinity (r = 0.5419) and ammonia (r = −0.4603). This study reviews the seasonality of Sargassum species on two reefs of Teluk Kemang and their correlation with the selected environmental parameters.