Life history and reproductive potential of the agarophyte Gelidium robustum in California

The reproductive potential of the tetrasporangial phase of Gelidium robustum was studied for 16 months at two sites off Santa Barbara, California. In all samples tetrasporangial thalli were always more abundant than gametangial ones. Tetratrasporangial sori were present throughout the duration of the study but relative fecundity was highest 300–400 sori g^–1 (w. wt)] in spring/summer samples of consecutive years, as a result of increasing numbers both of tetrasporangial branchlets per plant and of sori per branchlet. On the other hand, laboratory experiments showed that tetraspore release per sorus was highest (150–250 spores sorus^–1 d^–1) in winter. Inferring from these field and laboratory data plants released up to ± 34 000 tetraspores g^–1 (w. wt) d^–1 in the spring/summer of the second study year. Tetraspore germination, under defined culture conditions, also showed a marked seasonality increasing sharply from less than 10% in winter up to almost 60% in spring/summer, thus coinciding with the period of maximal spore output per plant. These results suggest that although relatively high numbers of tetraspores may be released by G. robustum plants all year round these might not always have the potential to germinate and recruit.