Sargassum muticum Sargassum muticum Sargassum muticum, commonly known as Japanese wireweed, is a large brown seaweed of the genus "Sargassum". It is an invasive seaweed with high growth rate (up to 10 cm per day during spring). It has an efficient dispersion thanks to its floats. "Sargassum muticum" is a brown seaweed, normally brown to yellowish with a length up to 10 m. It is an autotroph that uses energy from sunlight. The photosynthesis is facilitated thanks to aerial vesicles which allows the algae to raise to the surface. "Sargassum muticum" is composed of two distinct parts: a perennial part, which contains
Plant cover Plant cover The abundances of plant species are often measured by plant cover, which is the relative area covered by different plant species in a small plot. Plant cover is not biased by the size and distributions of individuals, and is an important and often measured characteristic of the composition of plant communities. Plant cover data may be used to classify the studied plant community into a vegetation type, to test different ecological hypothesis on plant abundance, and in gradient studies, where the effects of different environmental gradients on the abundance of specific plant species are investigated. The most common