A provisional classification of algal-characterised rocky shore biotopes in the Azores

Recent studies of the rocky shores of the Azores archipelago have provided information on community structure allowing provisional identification of p lant-characterised biotopes (habitats acid their associated communities). A lthough the Azores share some littoral and sublittoral biotopes with the At lantic coast of mainland Europe, shores in the archipelago mostly lack the functionally important 'leathery; macrophyte' communities of fucoids and la minarians widespread in the North Atlantic. Intertidal biotopes are mainly turfs typical of warm-temperate and tropical regions, and characterised by articulated Corallinaceae or by non-coralline algae such as Cladophora spp. , Gelidium spp., Pterocladiella capillacea. Stypocaulon scoparia, and Valon ia utricularis. Subtidal algal biotopes are characterised by Dictyota spp., Halopteris filicina, Sphaerococcus coronopifolius and, most commonly, Zona ria tournefortii.