Age and stage in seaweed populations: A cautionary tale

Abstract

Biomass measurements of vegetative thalli of Himanthalia elongata have been made on a single population on the Isle of Man for the period 1987 to 1989. Annual differences were observed in the size (biomass) structure of the population and in the numbers of plants sampled. The data did not produce unequivocal evidence on plant longevity and it is concluded that deductions of population age composition from biomass data alone may be unwarranted, even when the sample size is large. © 1990 The British Phycological Society.