The species concept in phytoplankton ecology
- Univ. of Oregon, Eugene (United States)
The authors discuss the broad aspects and difficulties of phytoplankton species identification. Phytoplankton ecology relies heavily on the use of taxon-insensitive indicies like chlorophyll a concentration, [sup 14]C incubations, and light-dark bottles for measurement of abundance and productivity. Numerous excellent studies have been done in comparative algal physiology, but none of them actually demonstrate species level differences in the traits of interest. Many of the studies underestimate genetic diversity within taxa because they rely on genotypes that can be cultured and maintained in the laboratory. Significant interclonal variablity is found every time that strains from the same putative taxon are compared, and the magnitude of these differences is not trivial. The authors follow this discussion by detailing several specific ways of approaching speciation in phytoplankton including identifying the ecological significance of morphological traits and ecologically important traits consistently correlated with mprphological features used to distinguish among speiceis or sub-species. 82 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG06-92ER61417
- OSTI ID:
- 6753019
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Phycology; (United States), Vol. 28:6; ISSN 0022-3646
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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