Биологические науки/ 3. Микология и альгология

Д.б.н. Селиванова О.Н., к.б.н. Жигадлова Г.Г.

Камчатский филиал Тихоокеанского института географии ДВО РАН,

Петропавловск-Камчатский, Россия

Additions to the flora of marine benthic algae of the Commander Islands (Kamchatka Region, Russia)

Marine algal flora of the Commander Islands is studied more thoroughly as compared to the other areas of the Russian Pacific. The data on marine algae of the Islands were presented in many published works by Russian and foreign authors (Kjellman, 1889; Kardakova-Prejentzoffa, 1938; Sinova, 1940; Kussakin and Ivanova, 1995 etc.). The comprehensive survey of the literature on the Islands’ marine flora was given in our previous papers (Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 1997 a, b, c). Thereafter we continued our floristic and taxonomic studies on the Commander Islands and published many new papers: Selivanova, 1997; 2001 a, b; 2008 a, b, c; 2009; Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 2000; 2003; 2010). However major part of the above-mentioned papers was published in Russian, some of them - in the local publishing houses and so they are hardly available to the academic community at large. That is why we decided to present the results of our recent studies to show what new data on marine algae of the Commander Islands have appeared since our first revision of the flora of the area (Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 1997 a, b, c).

It should be noted that inventory of the flora of this area is still not finished because of the difficulties of collection of algae, especially subtidal ones, in this remote hard-to-reach and little-inhabited area. Besides that the general taxonomic base is insufficient and there are still unsolved nomenclatural problems. So our main purpose was to continue the inventory works on the flora of the Commander Islands on the basis of our personal collections adjusted for new world data in algal taxonomy and nomenclature.

Up to the present day the general list of marine benthic algae of the Commander Islands based on our own materials includes 177 species, 28 of them represent new records as compared to our previous checklist (149 species, see: Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 1997 a, b, c). Information on this new algae is given in the species list in the present paper.

Materials and Methods

The material was collected by the authors during expeditions of the Hydrobiology Laboratory of Kamchatka Branch of Pacific Institute of Geography annually in 1986-1992 and incidentally in 1997, 2007-2010. Other individual collectors also took part in this work. Algae were collected from April through September on the littoral fringe during low tides, and with use of SCUBA from the depths of 1-30 m. Algae cast ashore were also picked up.

Material was sectioned freehand with a razor blade, placed in a drop of fresh water on the slides and examined using the light microscope. The sections were studied uncolored or stained with Lugol solution. The processing of collections was conducted at Kamchatka Branch of Pacific Institute of Geography (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii, Russia).

Results

as a result of our studies we found 28 new species of algae in marine flora of the Commander Islands in comparison with our previous works (Selivanova and Zhigalova, 1997 a, b, c). The species list is presented below in the form of a Table. Species recorded for the first time on the Islands are marked with an asterisk *, those that appeared to be new for the Pacific coasts of Russia – with 2 asterisks **, and a new for science taxon described from Commander Islands – with 3 asterisks ***. The following abbreviations are used in the Table: BI – Bering Island, MI- Medny Island, TI- Toporkov Island. Latin numbers correspond to the months of algal collection and Arabic numbers in parentheses following the names of the Islands correspond to collecting sites shown on the map (Fig.).

Table. Checklist of the species of macroalgae from Commander Islands found after our first revision of the flora (Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 1997 a, b, c).

№	Species	Habitat, frequency, time of collection	Collecting sites	Fertility
Phylum Chlorophyta
Order Chaetophorales Family Chaetophoraceae
1	*Zygomitus reticulatus Bornet et Flahault	Cast ashore, subtidal (2 m), intertidal; VII, IX; infrequent. Endophytic in outer walls of Hymenena ruthenica and Palmaria stenogona	BI (5, 6), MI (17)
Order Ulvales Family Ulvellaceae
2	**Acrochaete apiculata (S. et G.) O'Kelly	Intertidal; VIII; very rare. Epiphytic on P. stenogona.	BI (2)
3	*Acrochaete geniculata (Gardn.) O'Kelly	Intertidal and cast ashore; VII–IX; abundant. Endophytic among cortex cells of red algae	TI (1), BI (3, 5, 6)
4	*Acrochaete ramosa (Gardn.) O'Kelly	Intertidal and cast ashore; VII; infrequent. Endophytic in the internal tissues of red algae	BI (2, 3)
5	*Pringsheimiella scutata (Reinke) Marchew.	Intertidal; VII; rare. Epiphytic on P. stenogona	BI (5)
6	**Ulvella lens Crouan et Crouan	Intertidal; VII, IX; rare. Epiphytic on P. marginicrassa, P. stenogona	TI (1)
Phylum Ochrophyta
Class Phaeophyceae
Order Ectocarpales Family Chordariaceae
7	**Hecatonema primarium (S. et G.) Lois.	Intertidal; VII; rare. Epiphytic on P. stenogona.	BI (5)	With plurilocular sporangia
8	**Myrionema balticum (Reinke) Foslie	Intertidal; VIII; very rare. Epiphytic on P. stenogona.	BI (2)	With plurilocular sporangia
9	*Streblonema myrionematoides S. et G.	Cast ashore; IX; rare. Endophytic in the cells of P. stenogona.	BI (6)	With plurilocular sporangia
10	**Streblonema scabiosum S. et G.	Intertidal; VII; very rare. Endophytic in the cells of P. stenogona.	BI (5)	With plurilocular sporangia
Order Scytosiphonales Family Scytosiphonaceae
11	**Compsonema serpens S. et G.	Intertidal; VII; very rare. Epiphytic on P. stenogona.	BI (5)	With plurilocular sporangia
12	*Scytosiphon dotyi Wynne	Intertidal; IX; rare. Epilithic.	BI (2)	Fertile
Phylum Rhodophyta
Order Erythropeltidales Family Erythrotrichiaceae
13	*Erythrotrichia carnea (Dillw.) J. Ag.	Intertidal; VII; infrequent. Epiphytic on palmarian algae.	BI (5)	Sterile
Order Bangiales Family Bangiaceae
14	**Porphyra nereocystis Anders.	cast ashore; VII; rare. Epiphytic on Nereocystis luetkeana.	MI (15)	With carpospores and spermatia
15	Porphyra purpurea (Roth) C.Ag.	Intertidal; VII, IX; infrequent. Epilithic.	BI (2, 6)	Fertile
Order Acrochaetiales Family Acrochaetiaceae
16	*Acrochaetium microscopicum (Näg. ex Kütz.) Näg	Intertidal; VII; rare. Epiphytic on P. stenogona.	BI (5)	With monosporangia
17	*Acrochaetium parvulum (Kylin) Hoyt	Intertidal; VII; rare. epiphytic on P. stenogona.	BI (5)	With monosporangia
Order Colaconematales Family Colaconemataceae
18	*Colaconema endophyticum (Batt.) Harp. et Saund.	Intertidal; VIII; rare. Endophytic in outer walls of Pterosiphonia bipinnata.	BI (5)	With monosporangia
19	**Colaconema pacificum (Kylin) Woelk.	Intertidal; IX; very rare. Epiphytic on P. stenogona.	TI (1)	With monosporangia
Order Bonnemaisoniales Family Bonnemaisoniaceae
20	Pleuroblepharidella japonica (Okam.) Wynne	Subtidal (5-10 m); VII-VIII; infrequent. Epilithic.	MI (11, 12)	With tetrasporangia
Order Rhodymeniales Family Faucheaceae
21	***Gloiocladia guiryi (Seliv.) Seliv.	Subtidal (10-30 m); IV, VII; infrequent. Epilithic.	BI (4), MI (7, 9, 10, 11 13, 14, 16,18)	With tetraspores and cystocarps
Order Palmariales Family Palmariaceae
22	Palmaria hecatensis Hawk.	Intertidal, cast ashore; VII-IX; common. Epilithic.	BI (2, 3, 5)	With spermatangia
23	Palmaria mollis (S. et G.) van der Meer et Bird	Intertidal; VI; rare. Epilithic.	BI (3)	Sterile
Order Gigartinales Family Phyllophoraceae
24	Lukinia dissecta Perest.	Subtidal (20 m); VII; rare. Epilithic.	MI (19)	Fertile
25	Mastocarpus papillatus (C.Ag.) Kütz.	Intertidal; VII-IX; infrequent. Epilithic.	MI (8, 11, 12)	Fertile
Order Ceramiales
Family Delesseriaceae
26	Pantoneura juergensii (J.Agardh) Kylin	Subtidal (5 m); VI; very rare. Epilithic.	MI (14)	Sterile
27	Phycodrys amchitkensis Wynne	Subtidal (30 m); VII; very rare. Epilithic.	MI (9)	Sterile
Family Rhodomelaceae
28	Odonthalia dentata (L.) Lyngb.	subtidal (8 m); VI; rare. Epilithic.	BI (2)	Sterile

DISCUSION

Marine macrophytic algae of the Commander Islands are studied more thoroughly as compared to the other areas of the Russian Pacific. By the present day the species list of algae of the Islands based on our collections includes 177 species but it is still being enlarged in the process of the material processing. Recently we found there 7 species new for whole Russian Pacific coastal area and described a new taxon of red algae: Gloiocladia guiryi (Selivanova) Selivanova (2009). It belongs to the order Rhodymeniales, family Faucheaceae and appears to be the first representative of the genus and the family Faucheaceae to be reported from the Far Eastern seas of Russia. Originally it was described as Fauchea guiryi Selivanova (2008c). However a taxonomic revision of the genus Fauchea Bory et Montagne in Montagne based on morphologic and molecular-genetic data resulted in the transfer of the overwhelming majority of the species of the genus including the generitype F. repens (C. Agardh) Montagne et Bory de Saint-Vincent to the genus Gloiocladia J.Agardh (Rodriguez-Prieto et al., 2007). Consequently it caused the necessity of the same transfer of F. guiryi to Gloiocladia. So a new nomenclatural combination for this species was proposed: Gloiocladia guiryi (Selivanova) Selivanova (2009).

The rest 16 species found on the Commander Islands’s shelf for the first time: Zygomitus reticulatus, Acrochaete apiculata, A. geniculata, A. ramosa, Pringsheimiella scutata, Ulvella lens (Chlorophyta), Hecatonema primarium, Myrionema balticum, Streblonema myrionematoides, S. scabiosum, Compsonema serpens (Ochrophyta, Phaeophycaea), Erythrotrichia carnea, Acrochaetium parvulum, A. microscopicum, Colaconema endophyticum, C. pacificum (Rhodophyta) represent submicroscopic epi- and endophytic algae difficult for finding and identification, so they were overlooked previously by us and also by other Russian authors. Seven of these species turned out to be also new for the whole Russian Pacific area: Acrochaete apiculata, Ulvella lens, Hecatonema primarium, Myrionema balticum, Streblonema scabiosum, Compsonema serpens, Colaconema pacificum. Macrophytic brown alga Scytosiphon dotyi is also among newly recorded from the Islands species.

Seven species were recorded by us previously in separate publications: Porphyra purpurea, Palmaria hecatensis, Pleuroblepharidella japonica (Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 2000), Pantoneura juergensii (Selivanova, 2007); Palmaria mollis, Porphyra pseudolinearis (Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 2010). Lukinia dissecta described by Perestenko in 1994 from Commander Islands was found in our material from Medny Island in 2000 when our paper concerning marine algae of this island was published (Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 2000). So we recorded it later in additions to the paper containing information on macrophytic algae of Bering Island (Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 2003).

We also confirm the presence of the species on the Commander Islands that were recorded by other authors previously but were absent in our material. Now we managed to collect samples of these species. For instance, Phycodrys amchitkensis was recorded as presumably inhabiting Commander Islands by I.S. Gusarova and B.I. Semkin (1986), our find of samples of this alga on Medny Island confirm their supposition; Mastocarpus papillatus was recorded by Perestenko (1988), and Odonthalia dentata was recorded by N.G. Klochkova (1998).

Inventory of marine algal flora of the studied area is still not completed but its main counters are outlined and may serve as a basis for other studies on biodiversity, ecology, phytogeogrphy etc. For instance knowledge on contemporary algal flora may be helpful for clarification of the problems of historical phytogeography, processes of the species formation and migration. It is also important for understanding of the regularities of forming and functioning of the ecosystems and the role of seaweeds in benthic communities.

The Commander State Biosphere Reserve located on the Commander Islands is a specially protected natural area with a long marine coastal line that can play the role of reservation for rare and endangered species of hydrobionts. Better knowledge on its marine flora as compared to other areas of the Russian Pacific coasts assure better understanding of the processes of existence and functioning of benthic communities as a whole. It also helps to fulfill the task of biodiversity conservation and sustainable nature use in Kamchatka Region.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank students of Kamchatka State University who took part in algal collections.

REFERENCES

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LEGENDS TO THE FIGURE

Figure. A schematic map of the Commander Islands to show collecting sites. Inset shows the position of the Islands in Bering Sea. Toporkov Islet: 1. Bering Island: 2. Cape Vkhodnoi Reef; 3. Fedoskin Bay; 4. Poludennaya Bay; 5. Cape Buyan; 6. Staraya Gavan’ Bay. Medny Island: 7. Gavrilovskaya Bay; 8. Sen’kin Bay; 9. Cape Lebyazhii; 10. Cape Drovyanyie Stolby; 11. Cape Drovenskoy; 12. Glinka Bay; 13. Korabel’naya Bay; 14. Cape Popovskii; 15. Topolevskaya Bay; 16. Cape Gladkii; 17. Galdkovskaya Bay; 18. Cape Sivuchii Kamen’; 19. Cape Matvei.