SGER: Recognition of a New Brown Algal Order with Resolution of the Taxonomic Position of Punctaria Glacialis Rosenvinge

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

In this Small Grant for Exploratory Research, Dr. Robert Wilce of the University of Massachusetts will work with his Canadian colleague Dr. Gary Saunders of the University of New Brunswick to study the ecology, life history, and reproduction of two enigmatic brown algae of high arctic waters. Currently known as Punctaria glacialis and Platysiphon verticillatus, these benthic browns of the sublittoral occur in scattered locations in the high arctic, and will be sampled from known localities on Baffin Island. Reproduction and complete life history stages are not known for them, but preliminary evidence from Wilce's prior work suggests that the algae form endosporic gametophytes which grow very slowly under the ice over the long winter season, giving rise to filamentous microthalli either directly or perhaps through small motile cells (these however not observed). No currently recognized family of browns would accommodate such a strange life history, and reclassification may prove warranted. Material will be collected to initiate cultures in the laboratory to follow reproductive stages, to provide sections for electron microscopy of cellular details, and to extract DNA for sequencing of nuclear and plastid genes for phylogenetic comparison with other brown algae. Support will also be provided to graduate student Christopher Lane to work in Prof. Wilce's laboratory learning culturing and EM techniques, while continuing his molecular phylogenetic studies of brown algae with Prof. Saunders.