CYTOLOGICAL AND CHROMOSOMAL FEATURES OF ALARIA SPECIES (LAMINARIALES, PHAEOPHYCEAE) FROM KAMCHATKA

We present new data on cytology and karyology of representatives of the genus Alaria from the eastern Kamchatka. Since, despite morphological differences, taxa previously reported from this region as A. angusta and A. marginata turned out to be genetically identical and conspecific to A. esculenta, we substantiated their independence as intraspecific taxa, A. esculenta – f. angustifolia and f. latifolia, respectively. Cytochemical studies showed that different forms of A. esculenta have different oligosaccharide composition on the surface of oocytes and female gametophytes, i. e. during life cycle stages that ensure maintenance of species heterozygosity and, possibly, reproductive isolation of its forms. In Asian region, A. esculenta has a haploid chromosome number, which is half from that recorded from the Atlantic and Arctic regions, 14 instead of 28, suggesting that northwest Pacific is the center of A. esculenta origin and its settlement in the World Ocean.