Ecosystem
Turbinaria ornata is a resilient seaweed capable of vegetative reproduction (growing new plants from fragmented bits) and has thus been able to invasively colonize many intertidal and low subtidal ecosystems where it outcompetes native Sargassum species. Even in native parts of its range (like Hawaii), this seaweed has been seen to exhibit very invasive tendencies in high nutrient environments, sometimes forming large blooms which cover stretches of the intertidal environment.