A Census of the Marine Benthic Flora of Tasmania.

Abstract

When first prepared this report contained a list of all known Tasmanian species of macroalgae collated from the literature available up to 2000. This included information gained from species listed in the seminal works of Womersley (1984, 1987, 1994, 1996 & 1998) but also listings from the herbaria of Universities of Melbourne, Tasmania and South Australia, as well as relevant, peer reviewed papers. Now included is information in Womersley’s final Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia series, published in 2003. No other data sources after 2000 have been consulted for this report. To date, recorded flora for Tasmania consists of 659 species consisting of 7 species of seagrasses, 66 green algae (Chlorophyta), 145 brown algae (Phaeophyta) and 441 red algae (Rhodophyta). Of these algae 5% are endemic to Tasmania and Bass Strait, and 2 % are endemic to Tasmanian waters only.