Mapping of the spread of the invasive alga Caulerpa taxifolia in shallow water habitats of the French Riviera using high resolution multispectral airborne imagery: preliminary results

Interactions between populations of the green alga of Caulerpa taxifolia and the seagrass Posidonia oceanica were examined over as long a time frame as possible by comparing their recent planar distributions in the Bay of Menton, French Riviera, with those evident on aerial photographs made as long ago as 1988 by the National Geographic Institute (IGN, France). The authors´ data suggest that fears regarding the negative impact of C. taxifolia on P. oceanica have not, so far, been realised in the Bay of Menton