Logistics

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Logistics

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Tropical Field Phycology Summer 2008
Bocas Research Station, STRI Bocas del Toro,
Panama
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Pacific
Caribbean
1900
Howe (1910) 2 families 6 genera
Howe (1910)
Howe (1918)
Taylor (1929) 49 spp.
Lemoine (1929) 14 spp. Corallines
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.
Wysor (2000) 300 spp.
2010
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Caribbean Panama
Wysor Fredericq unpublished
Wysor DeClerck 2003
Wysor Kooistra 2003
Total 291 spp. (Earle 1972 119 spp.)
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7 new species, incl. 1 new genus

• 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

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Putative new species
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Bocas del Toro, Panama
Total 163 spp. (Wysor Kooistra Sep. 1999,
Wysor Freshwater, Jan. 2007)
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January 2007 visit to BRS
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Pacific Panama
Wysor 2004
Total 174 spp. (Earle 1972 79 spp.)
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Green Algal Diversity
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4 FEB 99 - 22 OCT 99
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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 lookthe more we find

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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

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Course Format (/-)

• 800 - 900
• Orientation lecture
• 900 - 1200
• Field Site
• 1200 pm - 1300
• Lunch _at_ BRS

• 1300 - 1400
• Lab methodologies
• 1400 - 1630
• Laboratory Identification
• 1630 - 1700
• 6 x oral species accounts (5 min. each)

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Caribbean
431 spp.
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Acanthophora spicifera
Caribbean
5 cm
5 cm
Pacific
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Caulerpa sertularioides
5 cm
Caribbean
5 cm
Pacific
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Amphi-isthmian species
1. Pliocene separation?
2. Independent range expansion?
3. Recent introduction?
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Phyllodictyon anastomosans
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Caribbean
Pacific
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0.61-0.69 Ma-1
2.03-2.30 Ma
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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.
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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.

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1. Salinity 0
2. Bi-directional Outflow
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• high traffic shipping route
• 30-40 ships/day
• 13,000 ships/year
• minimum draft required
• passage time 6-8 hours

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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)

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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

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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

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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