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Certificate for Course Participation
Tropical Field Phycology
Summer 2008
Bocas Research Station, STRI
Bocas del Toro, Panama
Pacific
1900
Howe (1910)
2 families; 6 genera
Caribbean
Howe (1910)
Howe (1918)
Lemoine (1929)
14 spp. Corallines
Taylor (1929)
49 spp.
Taylor (1941)
4 spp.
Taylor (1945)
24 spp.
Taylor (1942)
67 spp.
Dawson (1959)
18 genera
Dawson (1960)
5 spp.
Earle (1972)
119 spp.
Earle (1972)
79 spp.
Littler & Littler (1990, 91, 92)
6 spp.
Soto et al. (1998)
141 spp.
Clifton & Clifton (1999)
9 spp.
Wysor (2000)
~200 spp.
2010
Wysor (2000)
~300 spp.
Caribbean Panama
100%
165
88
80%
69
34
96
54
Reds
Greens
38
21
60%
40%
17
20%
0%
New Records
Browns
Published Records
Total = 291 spp.
(Earle 1972: 119 spp.)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Augophyllum wysorii Lin, Fredericq et Hommersand
Nitophyllum sp. 1
Botryocladia caraibica Gavio et Frederica
Gracilaria galetensis Gurgel, Fredericq et Norris
Gracilaria hayi Gurgel, Fredericq et Norris
Gracilaria smithsoniensis Gurgel, Fredericq et Norris
Gracilariopsis hommersandii Gurgel, Fredericq et Norris
Bocas del Toro, Panama
100%
85
54
24
48
22
6
2
Greens
Browns
80%
60%
65
40%
20%
20
0%
Reds
New Records
Known Records
Total = 163 spp.
(Wysor & Kooistra Sep. 1999, Wysor & Freshwater, Jan. 2007)
January 2007 visit to BRS
Pacific Panama
100%
80%
109
42
23
57
20
10
52
22
13
Reds
Greens
Browns
60%
40%
20%
0%
New Records
Published Records
Total = 174 spp.
(Earle 1972: 79 spp.)
Green Algal Diversity
Caribbean
Country
Puerto Rico
Colombia
Panama
Belize
Costa Rica
Honduras
Nicaragua
Pacific
Country
Panama
Ecuador
Colombia
#
Chlorophyta
136
120
83
72
58
38
34
#
Chlorophyta
45
37
29
El Salvador
Costa Rica
18
11
Nicaragua
Guatemala
6
6
# not in
Source
Caribbean
Flora
66
Ballantine & Aponte 2002
No list available Bula-Meyer 1998
Wysor & Kooistra 2003
26
Littler & Littler 1997
24
Soto & Ballantine 1986
3
Ogden 1998
9
Phillips et al. 1982
# not in
Source
Pacific Flora
Wysor 2004
26
Taylor 1945
15
Schnetter & Bula-Meyer,
1982, Bula-Meyer 1995
11
Dawson 1961
7
Taylor 1945, Dawson 1960,
1962
3
Dawson 1962
3
Bird & McIntosh 1979
4 FEB 99 - 22 OCT 99
Cumulative Diversity (# species)
80
60
y = 1.65x + 13.89
R2 = 0.97
40
20
y = 0.84x 1.04
0
0
8
16
24
R2 = 0.95
32
Cumulative Effort (days)
Cumulative Diversity (# species)
30
y = 0.48x + 9.22
R2 = 0.81
24
18
12
y = 0.24x + 3.08
6
R2 = 0.86
0
0
8
16
24
Cumulative Effort (days)
32
Summary: Macroalgal Diversity
• Macroalgal diversity is very high in Panama
– Comparable to adjacent areas in sp. #
– Among richest in Caribbean & eastern
tropical Pacific
• Current estimates are conservative
– Only conspicuous species collected (no epiphytes,
endophytes recorded)
– No account for seasonal variation
– Numerous conspicuous species in adjacent floras not
yet reported for Panama
– Many new species to describe
• The more we look…the more we find
Course Goals
• Collect, curate & identify the species
composition of the marine flora of BdT,
Panama
• Document the morphology of select
species as part of a series of
photographic plates
• Contribute specimens and
morphological observations to:
– DNA Barcoding Project &
– BRS Reference Collection
• Establish productive collaborations for
continued study of Central American (or
other tropical) marine floras
Course Format (+/-)
• 8:00 - 9:00
– Orientation lecture
• 9:00 - 12:00
– Field Site
• 12:00 pm - 13:00
– Lunch @ BRS
• 13:00 - 14:00
– Lab
methodologies
• 14:00 - 16:30
– Laboratory
Identification
• 16:30 - 17:00
– 6 x oral species
accounts (5 min.
each)
291
174
34 Pacific
Caribbean
431 spp.
Acanthophora spicifera
Caribbean
5 cm
Pacific
5 cm
Caulerpa sertularioides
Caribbean
5 cm
5 cm
Pacific
Amphi-isthmian species:
WA
EA EP
EPEPWP
EP
WAEP
WP EA
1. Pliocene separation?
2. Independent range expansion?
3. Recent introduction?
Phyllodictyon anastomosans
1 cm
Caribbean
Pacific
0.61-0.69% Ma-1
2.03-2.30 Ma
Tropical water pulses caused by two separate closures, inferred from
Ostracode assemblage data (Cronin & Dowsett 1996).
Cronin & Dowsett. 1996. Biotic and oceanographic response to the Pliocene closing of the
Central American Isthmus, pp. 76-104. In Jackson, Budd & Coates (eds.). Evolution and
Environment in Tropical America. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 425 p.
Conclusions
• The well-resolved geological history of the
Isthmus provided a rare opportunity to
estimate time since divergence in a
macroalga that lacks a fossil record. This
provided new biological evidence in support
of a breach of the isthmus.
• The CAI is a formidable but permeable
barrier to dispersal in at least one green
alga.
1. Salinity = 0‰
2. Bi-directional Outflow
• high traffic shipping route
~30-40 ships/day
~13,000 ships/year
• minimum draft required
• passage time ~6-8 hours
Known or Presumed
Trans-isthmian migrants
• Fish
(e.g.: Hildebrand, 1939; Rubinoff & Rubinoff, 1968;
McCosker & Dawson, 1975)
• Crustacea
(e.g. McCosker & Dawson, 1975; Carlton 1985)
• Molluscs, siphonophores, bryozoans,
shipworms, sponges (Carlton 1985)
• Macroalgae
(McCosker & Dawson, 1975)
Algal adaptations
for introduction
• Diverse reproductive strategies
– spores, parthenogenetic gametes, zygotes,
fragmentation
– Propagules can be collected in ballast or
released from fouling flora
• Colonize most hard substrate
• Fragments can become fertile
• Physically stressed seaweeds may regenerate
from a reduced basal section
Summary: Algal Introductions
• Molecular data is useful for identifying
recent introductions especially in light of
limited historical records
• IoP may be susceptible to algal (or other)
invasions mediated by the Panama Canal,
despite freshwater character of the canal
• Current PCC regulations may actually
promote inter-oceanic transfer of species
Summary: Algal Introductions
• High shipping traffic, convergence on a
specific geographic local, and increased
longevity of marine debris may further
contribute to the susceptibility of the IoP
to bioinvasion