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Analipus japonicus (Harv.) Wynne (Phaeophyta): studies of its biology and taxonomy

University of British Columbia

A culture and light microscope study was made of the development, morphology and anatomy of Analipus japonicus (Harv.) Wynne (Phaeophyta). Its life history was observed in culture and followed in the field over a period of two years. Cytological studies employing microspectrophotometry to measure relative DNA content confirmed the life history to be an alternation of isomorphic generations - verifying the work of Abe (1935a,b, 1936) which has been questioned in the literature. The unilocular plants proved to be diploid. Meiosis occurs in the unilocular sporangia, resulting in the formation of haploid unispores. Haploid plurilocular plants were the only plants of A.japonicus found in British Columbia. A survey of herbarium specimens and collections outside British Columbia showed that only plurilocular populations cccur in most of the eastern portion of A.japonicus' geographic range (Alaska, B.C., Washington, Oregon, California). Unilocular plants occur in Japan and in one site in California. Prior to this study the rarity of this stage of A.japonicus' life history had not been realised. The ecology of A.japonicus in British Columbia was studied at a site in the Strait of Georgia and at two sites in Earkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. A comparison was made of A.japonicus and the subantarctic alga Caepidium antarcticum J.Ag. (to which A.japonicus has been likened in the literature). Although many similarities exist between them, it is concluded that these plants are generically distinct. The affinities of Caepidium will remain unclear until life history data are available. It is concluded from an evaluation of the order Ralfsiales (into which A.japonicus has been recently placed) that this order should not be recognised., The placement of A.japonicus into the Ralfsiaceae is evaluated and considered inappropriate. The use of the family Heterochordariaceae for A.japonicus and the placement of this family in the Ectocarpales are advocated.

Text

2010-03-26

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/22795

Botany

University of British Columbia

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