Intriguing asexual life in marginal populations of the brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus

• Reproduction of attached large brown algae is known to occur only by sexual zygotes. Using microsatellites we show evolution of asexual reproduction in the bladder wrack promoting population persistence in the brackish water Baltic Sea (< 6 psu). Here a dwarf morph of Fucus vesiculosus is dominated by a single clone but clonal reproduction is also present in the common form of the species. We describe a possible mechanism for vegetative reproduction of attached algae, and conclude that clonality plays an important role in persistence and dispersal of these marginal populations, in which sexual reproduction is impaired by low salinity.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

adventitious branches

Baltic Sea

brackish water

brown macroalgae

clonal reproduction

Fucus vesiculosus

geographical parthenogenesis

marginal habitat

BALTIC SEA

ZOSTERA-MARINA

DIFFERENTIATION

PHAEOPHYCEAE

DIVERSITY

SERRATUS

FUCACEAE

SUCCESS

ALGAE

Cluster Analysis

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)