J. Robert Waaland’s research while affiliated with University of Washington and other places

Northeastern Pacific Ocean and northwestern Atlantic Ocean populations of Chorda species, which have not been examined in previous phylogenetic studies, were investigated. All specimens that were collected in Hood Canal, Puget Sound, WA, USA, Pacific coast of North America, showed identical ITS-5.8S rDNA sequences, and they were included in the clade of Japanese Chorda asiatica. With morphological data added to the molecular data, they were identified as C. asiatica and were concluded to be non-indigenous populations, most likely introduced with oyster spat together with Sargassum muticum. Specimens collected in New York, NY, USA, Atlantic coast of North America, were genetically closest to C. filum from Newfoundland and were identified as C. filum. The genetic divergence of the North Atlantic populations of C. filum was relatively small compared to that of Japanese C. asiatica considering their broader distributional ranges on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ulva, one of the first Linnaean genera, was later circumscribed to consist of green seaweeds with distromatic blades, and Enteromorpha Link was established for tubular forms. Although several lines of evidence suggest that these generic constructs are artificial, Ulva and Enteromorpha have been maintained as separate genera. Our aims were to determine phylogenetic relationships among taxa currently attributed to Ulva, Enteromorpha, Umbraulva Bae et I.K. Lee and the monotypic genus Chloropelta C.E. Tanner, and to make any nomenclatural changes justified by our findings. Analyses of nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer DNA (ITS nrONA) (29 ingroup taxa including the type species of Ulva and Enteromorphat, the chloroplast-encoded rbcL gene (for a subset of taxa) and a combined data set were carried out. All trees had a strongly supported clade consisting of all Ulva, Enteromorpha and Chloropelta species, but Ulva and Enteromorpha were not monophyletic. The recent removal of Vmbraulva olivascens (PJ.L. Dangeard) Bae et I.K. Lee from Ulvu is supported, although the relationship of the segregate genus Umhraulva to Ulvaria requires further investigation. These results, combined with earlier molecular and culture data, provide strong evidence that Ulva, Enteromorpha and Chloropelta are not distinct evolutionary entities and should not be recognized as separate genera. A comparison of traits for surveyed species revealed few synapomorphies. Because Ulva is the oldest name, Enteromorpha and Chloropclta are here reduced to synonymy with Ulva, and new combinations are made where necessary.

Agarum is a perennial kelp genus that has a broad distribution from the northwest Pacific to the northwest Atlantic Ocean. In order to address questions regarding phylogenetic relationships and present-day distribution patterns of species within this genus, we analyzed the nuclear ITS2, mitochondrial cox1 and cox3, and plastid RuBisCO spacer from a subset of 130 samples of the genus plus Thalassiophyllum and Costaria. All analyses of the individual markers and the ITS2 + cox1 + cox3 dataset consistently produced a clade of Agarum that included Thalassiophyllum. The clade consisted of two well-resolved subclades: one composed of A. fimbriatum and A. oharaense, and the other of A. clathratum, A. turneri, A. yakishiriense, and T. clathrus (the type of the generic name Thalassiophyllum). On the basis of these results, we treat Thalassiophyllum as a syn onym of Agarum, reinstating the combination A. clathrus made by Greville in 1830. Despite its wide distribution from Japan through Alaska to the east coast of North America, A. clathratum had low genetic diversity, suggesting a relatively recent long-distance dispersal of the species. The low degree of substitutions between A. clathratum and A. yakishiriense suggests their recent divergence from a common ancestor, and we recognize the latter as a subspecies of the former. Because type ma terial of A. clathratum has not been found, we designate as neotype a specimen collected in Kamchatka, one of two syntype localities cited by Gmelin for Fucus agarum.

Ceramium pacificum and Ceramium washingtoniense are two corticated Ceramium species recognized by their prolific side branches. Molecular analysis of specimens, including those from the type localities and the type specimens, indicates that these two species are conspecific. Two of the characters used to distinguish these species, colour and size, are plastic features that do not define these as separate species. The other character, degree of cortication in younger branches, is shared by both species. This study also shows the value of historic herbarium specimens and why they continue to be a vital resource for taxonomists.

Traditional marine algal mariculture relies on spores or gametes for inoculation of artificial substrates on which the algae are grown to harvest size in open waters. In the case of Porphyra and Laminaria mariculture, this process has reached a high level of sophistication. Newly established seaweed mariculture industries growing Eucheuma and Gracilaria have employed vegetative propagation techniques successfully in artificial substrate or pond culture of these algae. Successful manipulation of the regenerative potential of small, mass-produced vegetative fragments of certain marine algae, notably Gigartina and Porphyra, has recently been used to inoculate artificial substrates with clones of these algae in experimental mariculture studies. Methods of fragment production and their inoculation on artificial substrates are described. Early development, transplantation to the field, survival in the field and subsequent growth and longevity are also described. Strain selection and maintenance of genetic stocks of cultivars can be greatly facilitated if spore or gamete reproduction can be bypassed by cloning methods. A relatively small amount of material may be used to inoculate large amounts of substrate using such cloning methods. Uniformity of response to environmental factors and uniformity of the resulting crop are advantages of the use of cloning techniques in algal mariculture.

Growth, blade shape and blade thickness of young gametophytes of Porphyra abbottae Krishnamurthy cultured from conchospores were determined at various combinations of temperature (8, 10, 12° C), photon flux density (17.5, 70, 140 μmol·m-−2·S−1), nutrient concentration (5, 25, 50, 100% f medium) and water motion (0, 50, 100, 150 rpm). Growth (as surface area) was light-saturated at 70 μmol· m−2· S−1, light-inhabited at 140 μmol·m−2· S−1, and nutrient-saturated an 25% f medium. Temperature had no significant effect on growth. Water motion and nutrients had an interactive effect on growth, with water motion having the greatest effect at the lowest nutrient concentrations. Water motion enhanced growth even at saturating nutrient concentrations. Blade length / width ratio was greater in low light (2.5) than in saturating light (1.9); with increasing water motion the ratio increased from 1.2 to 2.4. Blade thickness (53-88 μm) was greatest at the highest nutrient concentrations and at the lowest water motion levels. Temperature and light did not have a consistent effect on blade thickness.

The ratio of accessory phycobiliproteins to chlorophyll a is controlled by light intensity in the marine red alga Griffithsia pacifica. The greatest changes in pigment ratios are observed below 300 ft-c; above 300 ft-c the response approaches saturation. Ultrastructural examination of chloroplasts of plants grown at different intensities reveals that the number of phycobilisomes per unit of photosynthetic thylakoid changes in direct proportion to the pigment ratios and in inverse proportion to the light intensity.

ABSTRACTA new species, Porphyra rediviva (Bangiales, Rhodophyta), is described from the northeast Pacific based on morphological, cytological, reproductive, ecological, and molecular characters. This species occurs at high intertidal levels in salt marshes along the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and northern California and exhibits a growth optimum at reduced salinity. It is further distinguished by a distinct demarcation between male and female sectors of the gametophytic thalli of epilithic specimens. The species is found most commonly in the drift or trapped in Salicornia beds, but these detached blades never have been found with sporangia or gametangia. Molecular analyses using restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns of polymerase chain reaction–amplified ribosomal DNA (rDNA) show that this salt marsh Porphyra is conspecific throughout its range and is distinct from other Pacific Porphyra species with similar reproductive patterns. Based on molecular data, P. rediviva is related most closely to P. purpurea from the North Atlantic. Fixed rDNA polymorphisms between the two taxa, however, support ecological and cytological evidence that they should be considered different species.

We have determined the conditions which give optimal growth and conchospore release in laboratory cultures of free conchocelis of the red alga Porphyra torta Krishnamurthy. With cool white fluorescent light on a 16L.8D photoregime, the fastest sustained growth (5% volume increase d−1) was observed from 10–15°C and 25–100 μE-m −2.s−1; slightly faster growth was observed at 15°C and 300 μE.m−2.s−1, but such conditions are close to lethal. Conchoporangin will form under a wide range of conditions in conchocelis of this species. However, conchospores will mature and release only when the cultures are exposed to a short day photoperiod. The critical pholoperiod is just shorter than 12 h, The minimum number of photoinductive cycles for complete conchospore release is four for a range of conditions but can be just one depending on pretreatment.