{"id":7342,"date":"2021-08-26T07:28:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T14:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hakai.org\/?p=7342"},"modified":"2021-08-26T09:52:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T16:52:17","slug":"where-its-easy-being-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hakai.org\/where-its-easy-being-green\/","title":{"rendered":"Where It\u2019s Easy Being Green"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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If you\u2019re an alga, the Calvert Island coastline has it all\u2014sheltered bays, wave-battered rocks, shallow lagoons, and powerful ocean currents. No matter your lifestyle, there\u2019s a nook or cranny available. It\u2019s why algal experts Sandra Lindstrom, Patrick Martone, and their team kept coming back for a decade\u2014every year brought new surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2011, the scientists began their inventorial journey to write \u201cThe Marine Flora of Calvert Island<\/em>\u201d\u2014a monumental tome of all three major algae groups: green, red, and brown. With an all-star lineup of experts, the grand algal opus seemed possible\u2014until they ran into a good problem. There are a heck of a lot of seaweed species on Calvert Island. So where does a seaweed scientist even begin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe green [algae] seemed like the most manageable,\u201d says Martone, a professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC). \u201cWhich is funny because I find greens to be a really tricky group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To confidently identify a seaweed species requires a back-and-forth of expertise and technology with some artistry in between. Step one is to collect seaweed samples and press them onto special paper in much the same way that you\u2019d press flowers for preservation. Green algae come in a plethora of shapes and forms. Paper-thin blades. Nondescript rock fuzz. Interlocking strands of an intricate feather boa. A weirdo called dead man\u2019s fingers, Codium fragile<\/em>, whose dozens of branches are made up of only one cell (example in header photo).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With each pressing, an expert ascribes a species name as best as possible, while a small clipping is brought back to the lab for DNA barcoding. It\u2019s in the DNA that hidden species are revealed. Take a single-celled wonder called Derbesia<\/em>, aptly called green sea grapes after their spherical reproductive form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was only supposed to be one species of Derbesia<\/em> in the area,\u201d says Lindstrom, an adjunct professor at UBC and a renowned algal expert. \u201cWe never saw that one. Instead we found three species and don\u2019t have a name for any of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The grape-like spheres are the reproductive, or halocystis, form of <\/em>Derbesia\u2014one of three yet-to-be-named species of this green algae found on Calvert Island. The <\/em>Derbesia are growing on a rhodolith, a calcareous red alga in the genus <\/em>Lithothamnion. Photo by Patrick Martone<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A collage of three species of green algae pressed onto herbarium paper for preservation. Left to right: <\/em>Ulva prolifera, Acrosiphonia sonderi, and Acrosiphonia coalita. Photos by Sandra Lindstrom<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Another diversity surprise came from plumes of elongated filaments within the genus Acrosiphonia<\/em>. These unassuming green seaweeds are informally called Grinch fingers by Martone because they resemble the wispy digits of Dr. Seuss\u2019 eponymous cantankerous character. Based on how they look in the field, Martone generally only applies one or two scientific names. But DNA barcoding revealed what even a trained eye can\u2019t see at first glance\u2014so scientists return to the pressings for closer inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese cryptic species get totally overlooked,\u201d says Martone. \u201cOnce we sequence the DNA then we look back at the pressed specimens again to see if there are any morphological differences or habitat details we can use to tell them apart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once DNA bins the collection into species, similarities and differences may more easily come into focus. Maybe species A is more cylindrical. Or species B only grows near seagrass meadows. These yet-unnamed cryptic seaweeds cause the area\u2019s species list to swell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Calvert Island, the diversity is, in part, tied to the powerful ocean currents coming from the north, south, and west. Some new seaweed finds are typically southern species extending their range north, while others are colder water species previously only found in Alaska. And then there\u2019s the species of green that came from even farther afield\u2014over 7,000 kilometers across the Pacific. Resembling a clump of moss-colored dog hair, Cladophora opaca<\/em> is a Japanese seaweed that showed up on Calvert Island in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map of important ocean currents and major seaweed collecting sites on the northwest coast of Calvert Island. Map by Josh Silberg<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was totally out of the blue. This seaweed has never been reported from North America before,\u201d says Lindstrom, who adds that there\u2019s no evidence that its presence was tied to debris associated with the 2011 T\u014dhoku tsunami. Instead, it may have come over attached to a ship\u2019s hull, rafting on a log, or as a tag along with oyster spat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And after a decade, when do the scientists think they\u2019ll stop finding new species to add to the list?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople ask me every year,\u201d says Martone. \u201cI\u2019ll say I think we\u2019ve captured all the diversity and then we find something new.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a manuscript describing the green algae of Calvert Island out in the journal Botanica Marina<\/a><\/em> this week, the scientists can shift their colour focus elsewhere. In addition to the 42 species of green algae, more than 300 species of red and brown algae have already been found by their team on Calvert Island, so their work is far from over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe picked off the easy one,\u201d says a grinning Martone. The inevitability of seaweed surprises is great motivation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re an alga, the Calvert Island coastline has it all\u2014sheltered bays, wave-battered rocks, shallow lagoons, and powerful ocean currents. No matter your lifestyle, there\u2019s a nook or cranny available. It\u2019s why algal experts Sandra Lindstrom, Patrick Martone, and their <\/p>\n

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