Turbinaria ornata is a tropical brown algae of the order Fucales

Fucales

Fucales is an order in the brown algae . Members of this order are fucoids. The list of families in Fucales, as well as additional taxonomic information on algae, is publicly accessible at Algaebase....

 native to coral reef

Coral reef

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

 ecosystems of the South Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

. It can quickly colonize these ecosystems due in part to its method of dispersing by detaching older and more buoyant fronds that travel on surface currents, sometimes in large rafts of many individual thalli, or fronds. Some scientists are investigating whether the increase in density of seaweeds, and a decrease in living coral density, on coral reef ecosystems indicates a change in the health of the reef, focusing studies on this particular species of brown alga.