Allocation of blade surface to reproduction inLaminaria longicrurisof Long Island Sound (USA)
✍ Scribed by M. S. Patten; C. Yarish
- Book ID
- 104623675
- Publisher
- Springer
- Year
- 1993
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 636 KB
- Volume
- 260-261
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1573-5141
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Sorus formation in the kelp Laminaria longicruris de la Pylaie (Phaeophyta) was quantified for a biennial population in Long Island Sound (Connecticut, USA), at the southern limit of its biogeographical range in the Western Atlantic Ocean. The allocation of blade surface to reproduction was measured monthly during two years, with additional samples taken at times of peak growth and reproduction. Sporophytes produced sori year-round, with the highest percentages of fertile plants (75 to 95 percent) occurring from October to December. The mean percentage of sorus area to blade ranged from 1 to 37 percent, remaining low and fairly constant during the spring and summer, but reaching much higher levels in the fall (when growth is minimal) and early winter. The comparatively low mean annual allocation of blade surface to reproduction (5 percent), was postulated to be due to temperature stress on these plants at the southern limit of distribution, but may instead be typical of the species. Such a small allocation of resources to reproduction nevertheless results in billions of spores per m 2 of substrate, making a major contribution of material potentially available to grazing food webs.