Journal of Phycology最新文献

{"title":"Cryptic diversity within the Gonyaulax spinifera species complex, its relation to the cyst-defined species Spiniferites bentorii, S. mirabilis and S. membranaceus, with the description of Gonyaulax carbonell-mooreae sp. nov. (Gonyaulacales, Dinophyceae)","authors":"Shuning Huang,&nbsp;Kenneth Neil Mertens,&nbsp;Lam Nguyen-Ngoc,&nbsp;Hai Doan-Nhu,&nbsp;Bernd Krock,&nbsp;Zhun Li,&nbsp;Doc Quang Luong,&nbsp;Gwenael Bilien,&nbsp;Vera Pospelova,&nbsp;Hyeon Ho Shin,&nbsp;Sascha Plewe,&nbsp;Haifeng Gu","doi":"10.1111/jpy.70005","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jpy.70005","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The fossil dinoflagellates <i>Spiniferites bentorii</i>, <i>S. mirabilis</i>, and <i>S. membranaceus</i> are known to inhabit recent sediments and are often used to reconstruct past sea-surface conditions. However, information on their corresponding motile cells has been rare. We isolated single cysts resembling these fossil species from China and France to yield <i>Gonyaulax spinifera</i>-like cells. <i>Gonyaulax</i> strains were also established from Viet Nam and South Korea by isolating single cells. Both cysts and cells were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy, and their LSU rRNA genes were sequenced. A new <i>Gonyaulax</i> species, <i>G. carbonell-mooreae</i>, was obtained from <i>S. bentorii</i>-like cysts and considered the equivalent of <i>Spiniferites bullatus</i>, dating back to the Campanian. <i>Gonyaulax kunsanensis</i> was related to <i>S. mirabilis</i>-like cysts. A typical <i>S. membranaceus</i> cyst from France yielded cells resembling <i>G. lewisiae</i> but shared only 75% similarity in LSU rRNA gene sequence with those from South Korea. Molecular phylogeny revealed that the pronounced apical boss is systematically significant, whereas the presence of intergonal processes is insignificant. Two ASVs of 18S rRNA V4 region were respectively identified as <i>G. kunsanensis</i> and <i>G. lewisiae</i> from the Tara Oceans metabarcoding data. <i>Gonyaulax kunsanensis</i> has a wide distribution in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, but <i>G. lewisiae</i> has a restricted distribution. One strain of <i>G. kunsanensis</i> was examined for yessotoxin content using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS), but no detectable amounts of toxins were observed. Our results uncover the hidden diversity within the <i>G. spinifera</i> species complex and stress the significance of cyst morphology in the taxonomy of <i>Gonyaulax</i>.</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":"61 2","pages":"299-316"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143597245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A comparison of calcification mechanisms in haploid and diploid cells of the coccolithophore Calcidiscus leptoporus (Murray & Blackman 1898).","authors":"Erin M Meyer, Alison R Taylor","doi":"10.1111/jpy.70006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jpy.70006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Coccolithophores are prominent marine pelagic calcifiers due to their production of calcite coccoliths. Diploid coccolithophores produce heterococcoliths intracellularly, with an organic cellulose baseplate scale acting as a nucleating substrate. However, coccolith production in the haploid life phase has not been extensively studied. Most haploid coccolithophores produce distinct holococcoliths that were previously thought to be produced in an extracellular space. However, we recently observed intracellular holococcolith production in haploid Coccolithus braarudii. We therefore compared the calcification mechanisms of the 2 N and N phases of Calcidiscus leptoporus, an understudied yet ecologically important species, to better understand ultrastructure features related to calcification and explore aspects of the calcification pathway in each life-history phase. We show that both life phases of C. leptoporus produce coccoliths intracellularly and that holococcoliths are likely nucleating on body scales in a dilated vacuole space rather than within a tightly associated coccolith vesicle (CV) as in diploid heterococcolith production. Both life phases were sensitive to the SERCA Ca²⁺ATPase inhibitor thapsigargin, suggesting conservation in the transcellular Ca²⁺ transport pathways utilized for intracellular calcification, namely through calcium accumulation in the endoplasmic reticulum. However, the Si analogue germanium led to severe disruption of the CV and coccolith morphogenesis only in the diploid life phase. This work provides strong evidence to support a model of intracellular holococcolith production and clearly demonstrates that calcification in both life phases shares a common cellular pathway. Nevertheless, differences in the spatial arrangement of the CV membrane exert significant control over crystal growth that has profound consequences for coccolith morphology.</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143585916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hyposaline conditions impact the early life-stages of commercially important high-latitude kelp species","authors":"Veronica Farrugia Drakard,&nbsp;Jordan A. Hollarsmith,&nbsp;Michael S. Stekoll","doi":"10.1111/jpy.70003","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jpy.70003","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study examines how hyposaline stress impacts the early life-stages of commercial kelp species from Alaska. Kelp are important species both ecologically and commercially and are likely to experience significant impacts due to ongoing climate change. Climate-driven glacial melt and changing rainfall patterns globally will release large amounts of freshwater into coastal systems in the coming decades. Both bull kelp (<i>Nereocystis luetkeana</i>) and ribbon kelp (<i>Alaria marginata</i>) are high-latitude species of commercial and ecological importance. These species inhabit very different environments: While bull kelp is a subtidal, canopy-forming species, ribbon kelp is an intertidal subcanopy species. In this study, fertile specimens of both were collected from various locations in Alaska and induced to release spores. These were cultivated for 30 days in four salinity treatments: 32, 25, 20, and 13. Both species grew and produced gametophytes in salinities down to a salinity of 20, although <i>A. marginata</i> seems to be better adapted to hyposaline conditions. Below a salinity of 20, we observed several impacts on progression between life stages. The response of gametophyte growth and the production of eggs and sporophytes to different salinities varied both by species and by population. Gametophytes of <i>N. luetkeana</i> grew fastest at a salinity of 32, while those of <i>A. marginata</i> grew fastest between 20 and 25 (Juneau) or 25 and 32 (Kodiak). In terms of egg production, <i>A. marginata</i> displayed significant population-level variation. Juneau individuals produced the same number of eggs regardless of salinity. Kodiak individuals produced fewer eggs in hyposaline conditions. The production of sporophytes from eggs for both species from all locations was unaffected by salinities above 20; however, no sporophytes at all were produced at 13. All of this has implications for commercial production in the hatchery phase, as hyposaline stress may induce <i>N. luetkeana</i> to produce sporophytes faster than in full oceanic salinity. In terms of wild populations, the observed population-level and species-level differences in adaptation to hyposaline conditions suggest that decreased salinities in coastal areas are likely to impact the distribution of these two species over the coming decades.</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":"61 2","pages":"317-329"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143476675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Seasonality and interannual stability in the population genetic structure of Batrachospermum gelatinosum (Rhodophyta)","authors":"Sarah Shainker-Connelly,&nbsp;Solenn Stoeckel,&nbsp;Morgan L. Vis,&nbsp;Roseanna M. Crowell,&nbsp;Stacy A. Krueger-Hadfield","doi":"10.1111/jpy.13539","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jpy.13539","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Temporal population genetic studies have investigated evolutionary processes, but few have characterized reproductive system variation. Yet, temporal sampling may improve our understanding of reproductive system evolution through the assessment of the relative rates of selfing, outcrossing, and clonality. In this study, we focused on the monoicous, haploid-diploid freshwater red alga <i>Batrachospermum gelatinosum</i>. This species has a perennial, microscopic diploid phase (chantransia) that produces an ephemeral, macroscopic haploid phase (gametophyte). Recent work focusing on single-time point genotyping suggested high rates of intragametophytic selfing, although there was variation among sites. We expand on this work by genotyping 191 gametophytes sampled from four sites that had reproductive system variation based on single-snapshot genotyping. For this study, we sampled at multiple time points within and among years. Results from intra-annual data suggested shifts in gametophytic genotypes throughout the season. We hypothesize that this pattern is likely due to the seasonality of the life cycle and the timing of meiosis among the chantransia. Interannual patterns were characterized by consistent genotypic and genetic composition, indicating stability in the prevailing reproductive system through time. Yet, our study identified limits by which available theoretical predictions and analytical tools can resolve reproductive system variation using haploid data. There is a need to develop new analytical tools to understand the evolution of sex by expanding our ability to characterize the spatiotemporal variation in reproductive systems across diverse life cycles.</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":"61 1","pages":"172-193"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jpy.13539","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143425644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Algal perspectives: The algal phyla","authors":"Charles F. Delwiche","doi":"10.1111/jpy.13546","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jpy.13546","url":null,"abstract":"<p>What are algae? United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said of pornography, “I shall not today attempt further to define [it]… but I know it when I see it” (<i>Jacobellis v. Ohio</i>, <span>1964</span>). Something similar could be said of algae. They are not one kind of thing but are a diverse assemblage of (mostly) oxygenic phototrophs, excluding embryophytes (which wags call the “drier algae”). The term is a form classification, not a phylogenetic one, and yet can be useful. There are commonalities of gross appearance, habitat, ecological role, and economic import or potential. Nonetheless, it can be a challenge to understand the full diversity of organisms within our purview as phycologists (algologists), and there are far more algae to know than there are scientists studying them (Figure 1).</p><p>In his 2012 and 2024 <i>Perspectives</i>, Guiry identified 14 phyla and 63 classes of algae and noted that ongoing discovery continues to expand the list (Guiry, <span>2012</span>, <span>2024</span>). The 2012 article has received 8151 full-text views and 696 citations, and the 2024 update has already had 5586 full-text views. This high level of engagement illustrates the hunger for accurate, authoritative, and digestible fundamental information about these organisms. To respond to that interest, I am working with the <i>Journal of Phycology</i> to launch a new series of <i>Perspectives</i>. Each will consist of a short synopsis of a single phylum or class by a leading scholar. They will be intended to be accessible to a broad scientific audience but still be interesting to experts. Of course, these articles will have to be as diverse as the lineages that they are describing, and we anticipate that over time the scope of the series will grow and change. It is our hope that when compiled, these <i>Perspectives</i> will serve as an introduction to the current state of knowledge of algae and provide inspiration for the work that lies ahead.</p><p>CFD envisioned and wrote the manuscript, took all of the photographs and micrographs in the figure, and prepared the figure and caption.</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":"61 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jpy.13546","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143414218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Three reference genomes for freshwater diatom ecology and evolution","authors":"Wade R. Roberts,&nbsp;Andrew J. Alverson","doi":"10.1111/jpy.13545","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jpy.13545","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Diatoms are an important component of marine and freshwater ecosystems. Although the majority of described diatom species live in freshwater systems, genome sequencing efforts have focused primarily on marine species. Genomic resources for freshwater species have the potential to improve our understanding of diatom ecology and evolution, particularly in the context of major environmental shifts. We used long- and short-read sequencing platforms to assemble reference genomes for three freshwater diatom species, all in the order Thalalassiosirales, which are abundant in the plankton of oceans, lakes, reservoirs, and rivers worldwide. We targeted three species that cover the breadth of phylogenetic diversity in the cyclostephanoid clade of Thalassiosirales: <i>Cyclostephanos tholiformis</i> (JALLPB020000000), <i>Discostella pseudostelligera</i> (JALLBG020000000), and <i>Praestephanos triporus</i> (JALLAZ020000000). The reference genome for <i>D. pseudostelligera</i> was considerably smaller (39 Mb) than those of both <i>P. triporus</i> (73 Mb) and <i>C. tholiformis</i> (177 Mb). Long-read sequencing allowed for the assembly of scaffold-level genomes, including regions rich in repetitive DNA. Compared to short-read assemblies, long-read assemblies increased the contig N50 length as much as 37-fold and reduced the number of contigs by more than 88%. Transcriptome-guided annotation of the protein-coding genes identified between 10,000 and 12,000 genes. This work provides further demonstration of the value of long-read sequencing and provides novel genomic resources for understanding the ecology and evolution of freshwater diatoms.</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":"61 2","pages":"267-274"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jpy.13545","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143391214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Linking phenotypic variation to patterns of genetic isolation along a speciation continuum","authors":"Sabrina Heiser,&nbsp;Charles D. Amsler,&nbsp;Andrew J. Shilling,&nbsp;Hazel M. Higginbotham,&nbsp;Margaret O. Amsler,&nbsp;Solenn Stoeckel,&nbsp;James B. McClintock,&nbsp;Bill J. Baker,&nbsp;Stacy A. Krueger-Hadfield","doi":"10.1111/jpy.13529","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jpy.13529","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Investigating taxa at varying stages of divergence can shed light on the evolutionary forces that lead to reproductive isolation and eventual speciation. The forces promoting isolation vary in space and time, which makes it difficult to reconstruct the trajectory that resulted in the divergence observed among species today. The red macroalgal genus <i>Plocamium</i> is known worldwide for its cryptic genetic and chemical diversity. Previous work on the genus <i>Plocamium</i> in Antarctica observed two haplotypes along the western Antarctic Peninsula that have been treated as the same species. Using 10 microsatellite loci, we observed that these two haplotypes correspond to two highly divergent, co-occurring genetic entities in Antarctic <i>Plocamium</i>, which are located within close vicinity of each other at the same sites. The morphology of the reproductive structures, a feature commonly used to identify cryptic species in <i>Plocamium</i>, as well as the timing of reproduction, differed significantly between the two genetic entities. Altogether, this suggests that two Antarctic <i>Plocamium</i> species exist on the western Antarctic Peninsula. We observed evidence for high levels of selfing in both genetic entities, which likely exacerbated the lack of gene flow between them. In addition, we identified concomitant chemodiversity that generates compelling evidence of early evolutionary divergence within one of these entities. This chemodiversity has ecological consequences for its main grazer, which alludes to one putative evolutionary driver of divergence. Antarctic <i>Plocamium</i> spp. provide a promising model system for investigating the eco-evolutionary forces that initiate and maintain species boundaries.</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":"61 1","pages":"3-19"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jpy.13529","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143365173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring cyanobacteria from diverse habitats of the Konkan region of India, unveiling novel species of the genera Desikacharya, Pseudoaliinostoc, and Chlorogloeopsis using a polyphasic approach","authors":"Harsh Pant,&nbsp;Naresh Kumar,&nbsp;Sagarika Pal,&nbsp;Prashant Singh","doi":"10.1111/jpy.13542","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jpy.13542","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Indian subcontinent has emerged as a natural habitat to several cyanobacterial taxa which have been explored and described in the past few years using a polyphasic approach. Various new genera and species of <i>Nostoc</i> morphotypes, heteropolar unbranched as well as branched heterocytous cyanobacteria, have been described from various parts of India such as the central mainland, temperate hill stations of extreme northern India, and the biodiversity hotspots of northeast India. Konkan, a small strip of land bounded by Arabian sea on the west and Sahyadri mountains on the east, has various habitats such as coastal beds, old monuments, freshwater lakes, and rivers; however, this region has been less charted in modern cyanobacterial systematics, relative to others. The region has a tropical climate with heavy monsoon showers owing to its location on the windward side of the northern Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot. Through this study, several districts of the Konkan region of Maharashtra and Goa were explored for cyanobacterial diversity and evaluated through a polyphasic approach with three novel species of the genus <i>Desikacharya</i>, two novel species of the genus <i>Pseudoaliinostoc</i> and one new species of the monotypic genus <i>Chlorogloeopsis</i> being described in accordance with the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants (ICN).</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":"61 1","pages":"194-217"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143033371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Function of N-acetyltransferase in the biotransformation of aniline in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii","authors":"Taoxing Dong,&nbsp;Xiaofeng Liu,&nbsp;Yingli Yang,&nbsp;Jun Xiong,&nbsp;Xuedong Wang,&nbsp;Shao Yang","doi":"10.1111/jpy.13543","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jpy.13543","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Phytoplankton plays a crucial role in the fate of pollutants in aquatic ecosystems by biotransformation and bioaccumulation. Aniline was listed in priority pollutants due to its toxicity and widespread distribution in the aquatic environment. This study focused on investigating the capacity and mechanism of eukaryotic alga <i>Chlamydomonas reinhardtii</i> in transforming aniline. Results showed that the total removal percentage of aniline was 56% within 8 days at an initial concentration of 10 mg · L⁻¹. The percentage of the biotransformation by <i>C. reinhardtii</i> was 23.4%. The biotransformation product was identified as acetanilide, indicating that acetylation was the primary biotransformation pathway. To reveal the key enzyme of the biotransformation process, the N-acetyltransferase (NAT) gene was cloned from the <i>C. reinhardtii</i> genome, and the NAT protein was obtained through heterologous expression. Aniline was significantly transformed by the purified NAT protein in vitro, and the product was also acetanilide. The characteristics of <i>C. reinhardtii</i> NAT in biotransformation of aniline was analyzed by bioinformatics methods. The binding sites in <i>C. reinhardtii</i> NAT for ligands (aniline and acetyl-CoA) were identified. Three highly reserved valine residues (Glu⁸⁵-Asp⁸⁶-Val⁸⁷-Val⁸⁸-Val⁸⁹) as well as GLU¹³¹ and Cys¹²² were the indispensable amino acid residues for the catalysis from aniline to acetanilide. These results demonstrated the capacity of <i>C. reinhardtii</i> in the biotransformation of aniline, and the transformation process was primarily through N-acetylation of aniline to acetanilide catalyzed by NAT enzyme. This study provides novel insights into the biotransformation mechanism of aniline in eukaryotic green alga <i>C. reinhardtii</i>, facilitating the evaluation of the fate of aniline within aquatic ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":"61 1","pages":"231-240"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143033372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Asynchronous shifts in the demographics of two wave-swept kelp species (Laminariales) after nearly four decades","authors":"Samuel Starko,&nbsp;Alyssa Allchurch,&nbsp;Christopher Neufeld","doi":"10.1111/jpy.13544","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jpy.13544","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Kelp forests are among the most abundant and productive marine ecosystems but are under threat from climate change and other anthropogenic stressors. Although knowledge is growing about how the abundance and distribution of kelp forests are changing, much less is known about the “non-lethal” effects that global change is having on the performance and health of kelp populations in areas where they persist. Here we assessed the age distribution of two common stipitate kelp species, <i>Laminaria setchelli</i> and <i>Pterygophora californica</i>, at Wizard Islet in Barkley Sound, British Columbia, Canada, and compared these data to historical demographic data collected by De Wreede (1984) and Klinger and DeWreede (1988) from the same site between 1981 and 1983. We observed that <i>L. setchelli</i> populations in 2020 were younger and less evenly aged than the same populations sampled nearly four decades prior, while the <i>P. californica</i> population was composed of older individuals on average than at the historical time point. Although the drivers of these demographic changes remain unclear, Barkley Sound has experienced substantial changes in the physical and biological environment over the past decade that could be responsible for these patterns. Given that the size of an individual and its probability of reproduction increases with age, shifting demographics may impact the reproductive output of each population, potentially altering the competitive relationships between co-occurring species. Changes in size distribution may also influence ecosystem-level processes such as habitat complexity or productivity.</p>","PeriodicalId":16831,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Phycology","volume":"61 1","pages":"250-254"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jpy.13544","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143033359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}