DISTRIBUTION AND SYSTEMATICS OF FRESHWATER CERAMIALES (RHODOPHYTA) IN NORTH AMERICA1

Twenty-five freshwater populations of Ceramiales were collected in North America, 24 of which were from the tropical rainforest region of Central America and the Caribbean. The streams tended to be moderate in mean current velocity (X?= 23.3 cm·S^?1) and maximum width (X?= 6.3 m) but high in temperature (X?= 23.1°C), pH (X?= 7.9), and specific conductance (X?= 320 μS·cm^?1). Three Bostrychia species were restricted to the Caribbean islands: B. moritziana (Sonder ex Kütz.) J. Ag. (syn. B. cornigera Mont. and B. radicans f. moliforme Post), with ecorticate indeterminate axes, monosiphonous ultimate branches, and cladohaptera; B. radicans (Mont.) Mont. (syn. B. leprieurii Mont and B. rivularis Harv.), with ecorticate and polysiphonous axes throughout and cladophaptera; and B. tenella (Lamour.) J. Ag., with corticate indeterminate axes, monosiphonous ultimate branches, and peripherohaptera. Ballia prieurii Kütz. was found in Belize and Costa Rica and was characterized by rebranched determinate laterals, opposite branching, and long apical cells (X?= 61 μm) and axial cells (X?= 43 μm). Caloglossa leprieurii (Mont.) J. Ag. was localized in Puerto Rico while. C. ogasawaerensis Okam. was collected only in Costa Rica. The two species were separated by site of branching (midrib vs. margin) and blade width (X?= 384 vs. 861 μm). Polysiphonia subtilissima Mont. from Florida and Jamaica had four pericentral cells, no cortication, rhizoids arising from pericentral cells, and branches initiated at trichoblast scars.     

Shigeo Yamanouchi (1876–1973): A noted Japanese phycologist

Dr Shigeo Yamanouchi was born in Yamagata Prefecture and completed his secondary education at Tokyo Higher Normal School (THNS) where he was also a professor until 1904. In 1905, he went to the University of Chicago in the USA and earned a PhD in Botany in 1907. He is best noted for his excellent research on the cytology and life histories of the marine algae Polysiphonia, Fucus, Cutleria, Aglaozonia and Zanardinia, published between 1906 and 1921 while he was associated with the University of Chicago. He also described the freshwater green alga Hydrodictyon africanum. In 1910, he returned to THNS as a Professor and wrote several botanical textbooks, receiving his DSc degree in 1911 and traveling in England and the USA as an advisor for the Japanese Ministry of Education during 1911–1913. For much of the time between 1920 and 1942 he remained in the USA, returning to Japan following the advent of World War II, During his later life, he was in obscurity, and sadly there is very little recorded of his activities in the post-war years. He died in Tokyo on 2 February 1973 at the age of 96.     

La Vegetazione del Comelico (Alto Cadore)

Riassunto

L'Autore studia l'embriologia di due specie che crescono spontaneamente in Sardegna: Arthemisia arborescens L. e Chrysanthemum coronarium L.

Per tutte e due le specie il numero cromosomico aploide è n=9, e lo sviluppo del gametofito maschile e femminile è normale; particolare interesse presenta la costituzione della regione antipodale.     

Carbon exchange between Polysiphonia lanosa (Rhodophyceae) and its brown algal host

Polysiphonia lanosa and its preferred Ascophyllum nodosum host exchange 14C-labeled photoassimilates. Exchange was demonstrated by injecting 14C-bicarbonate into air bladders on 15-30 cm cultured sections of field-collected host blades. Each section bore rhizoidally attached Polysiphonia. In a separate set of experiments, Polysiphonia on similar host material was surface treated with 14C-bicarbonate in sealed vessels. Movement of radioactive label was detected by autoradiographic and liquid scintillation techniques. On average, 10.5% of total label moved from host to hemiparasite following the first treatment, and 9.7% moved from hemiparasite to host following the second. Reciprocal exchange of tagged photoassimilates may play an important role in the specificity of the relationship between these two algal species.     

The distribution of Stigeoclonium tenue Kütz. in South Wales in relation to its use as an indicator of organic pollution

The distribution and frequency of Stigeoclonium tenue Kütz. in some South Wales rivers were studied for 12 months to assess the value of the alga as an indicator of organic pollution. It colonised organically polluted areas at most times of the year, and generally in greater abundance as compared with cleaner stations. Tolerance was observed over a wide range of a number of environmental factors: pH, water temperature, suspended solids content, flow, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia nitrogen, phosphate phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, B.O.D., electrical conductivity, chloride, total hardness, magnesium hardness and calcium hardness. Greatest tolerance was expressed mainly in the spring months when the organism became widely distributed in diverse habitats ranging from organically polluted to fairly clean conditions. Some precautions in the use of S. tenue as an indicator of organic pollution are therefore suggested. In particular, the frequency of the organism should be noted especially in spring, since organic conditions are suspect only when the alga is highly abundant.     

Harvesting of the Kelp Ecklonia Maxima in South Africa Affects Its Three Obligate, Red Algal Epiphytes

In South Africa, more than 7000 t (f wt) of kelp (Ecklonia maxima) fronds are harvested annually to feed cultured abalone. Carpoblepharis flaccida, Gelidium vittatum and Polysiphonia virgata are conspicuous red algal epiphytes on older kelps and provide habitat and food for numerous animals. Over 4.5 y, we examined the effects of one destructive harvest of E. maxima on these 3 epiphytes. Two 20 × 20 m plots of kelp with similar epiphyte loads were demarcated. In one, all E. maxima sporophytes with stipes longer than 50 cm were harvested. The other plot served as a control. After 2.5 y the biomass of E. maxima in the harvested plot had recovered to control levels, but the epiphyte load (g epiphytes. Kg kelp⁻¹) was statistically lower in the harvested plot after 2.5 and 3.5 y, and only recovered after 4.5 y. While most commercial harvesters cut through the “heads” (primary blades) of the kelp, effectively killing them, a new, non-lethal method removes secondary blades 20–30 cm from their bases, leaving the meristems and primary blades intact. At 5 sites studied, G. vittatum and P. virgata were found almost entirely on stipes and primary blades, and harvesting only distal parts of secondary blades limited losses to about 50% of C. flaccida biomass. To protect epiphytes, non-lethal harvesting is recommended and permanent non-harvest zones have been established in addition to limiting kelp yields and disallowing harvesting in Marine Protected Areas.     

THE USE OF PLASTID DNA RESTRICTION ENDONUCLEASE PATTERNS IN DELINEATING RED ALGAL SPECIES AND POPULATIONS1

Plastid DNA band patterns generated by electrophoresis of endonuclease digests demonstrate remarkable conservation of DNA sequences at the species and subspecies level in flowering plants. Generally, patterns are identical or near-identical from different populations belonging to the same species. This methodology has now been applied to red algae to ascertain its value in systematic studies. Plastid DNA from nine bangiophycean and florideophycean red algae was isolated and cut with restriction endonucleases that recognize different 6-base pair sequences. The patterns generated upon the electrophoretic separation of digestion fragments show that within a species patterns are identical, but not within higher taxa. The proper identification of one Gracilaria population of uncertain taxonomic affinity was clearly established by this method of plastid DNA analysis. Differences between species in plastid DNA sequences were confirmed by probing blots of restriction fragments with known gene sequences. A number of heterologous plastid DNA probes were found to be sufficiently homologous to be useful in studying red algal DNA. Unexpectedly, supercoiled circular plasmids ranging in size from ca. 1.5–8 kb were found in some red algal species but not in others. The position of these plasmids in agarose gels following electrophoresis is uniform within a species but differs between different species of the same genus, contributing further patterns for taxonomic analysis.     

The effects of oils and oil components on algae: A review

Plate structure analysis of the bloom-forming Peridinium of Lake Kinneret (previously identified as P. cinctum fa. westii) established its identity as P. gatunense. Peridinium cinctum was not observed. Material from different years and periods of the bloom, as well as specimens from cultures and P. gatunense from Lago Cristalino (Brazil), were studied using light and scanning electron microscopy. Peridinium gatunense from Lake Kinneret showed slight differences of the plate pattern as compared with specimens from other localities.