Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
~~
Ph)'c./' 28, 723-729 (1992)
MINI REVIEW
structure of a phytoplankton commun ity has pronounced effects on ecosystem structure and function. Numerous studies claim to document interspecific differences in important physiological
parameters like nutrient utilization and storage capacity (Dortch 1982), dark nitrogen uptake (Paasche
et al. 1984), fatty acid composition (Thompson et
al. 1990), sensitivity to ultravio let irradiance (Karentz et al. 199 1), or an iron requ irement for growth
(Sunda el al. 1991). However, despite the fact that
these are among the finest and most rigorous studies
in comparative algal ph ysiology, for the reasons explained below, none ojlhelll aclua.II),delllonsirale s/Jecies-
723
\.
724
A . MI C m : LL E WOOD A N D TA N YA L EATHAM
TARLE
I.
Ill /ne/oual variation ill phJsiological Gild biochf'l1I;cal trails of ph),lo/Jlallktoll sPt'cit's (I lid sPf'cit's comp/,.w s. )' "" )'1'5; N =
C h ar.lCler
Spedc5
No.ofdollc:1
2
5
2
2
2
110.
Re ference
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Braarud 195 I
Hay ward 1968
Brand 1984
Brand 1984
Brand 1984
2
10
2
5
6
14
44
73
19
28
33
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Runner 193 7
Le win 1955
Hulburt and Cuillard 1968
Ha ywa rd 1968
Goldman and Carpenter 19 74
Bra nd et al. 198 1
Bra nd 198 1
Brand 1982
Bra nd 198 2
Brand 1985
Kasai an d Ichimura 1990
Tox icit y
GOII)'alllax lamarellsisb Lebour
G. III mart I/sis var. excavalab Braarud
G. Ilimlirt'llSis va r. lamarrllsisb Braa rud
G. Ilimart'llSisb Le bou r
PrologOlI),auiax lamarem is/ca lliliriiab compl ex
Gambt'rie/iseus loxieus Adachi & Fukuyo
3
4
5
35
24
17
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Alam et al. 19 79
Schm id t and Loeblich 1979
Schmidt and Loeblich 19 79
Maranda et al. 1985
Ccmbe lla et a1. 1986
Bo mber et al. 1989
10
6
4
5
2
5
2
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
3
2
2
Y
Y
Y
2
2
2
Y
Y
Eppley e l a I. 1969
Kilham 1975
Nelso n et al. 1976
Weect a l. 199 1
3
2
II
6
Y
Y
Y
Y
Fisher ct a1. 19 73
Fisher el a1. 1973
Murph y and Bcla stock 198 0
Mu rph y and BclasLOck 198 0
6
4
2
N'
Y'
2
10
Y
Y
Luminescence
Gon)'lIlllllX txcavlllll (Braarud) Balech
10
Schmidt el al. 19 78
P. triconlll i um
Thalla SS;Qsira pS('IuloII(IIIa/oC('Qllica compl ex
y,
N'
--
------------------~-
725
Continued .
Characu:r
SI)Ccit.-s
No. of clonc~
Kefc:n:nce
clones
PhOloadapli vc parameters
S. cos/atulII
Diel periodicityr
P. triCOn/UIIlIll
Terry
el
tt l. 1983
to planktonic populatio ns, considerable genetic diversity can be maintained very easil y. For species
that rarely reproduce sexuall y, selectio n during
asexua l generations wi ll increase hidde n gene tic
variability, and occasiona l recombination is required
to reestabish th e g reatest possible heritable ph enotypic variatio n (Lynch and Gabriel 1983).
Gallagher's work on populatio n genetic change in
Skeleloll ellla coslalwlI (Gallagher 1980, 1982) remains
the premier demonstration that changing environmental conditions are corre lated with changes in th e
genetic compositio n of a phytoplankton populatio n.
Recently, however, there have been additio nal effons to use protein e lectrophoresis to eva luate genetic diversity within populations . Electrophoretic
studies of toxic dinoAagellates show local populations to be much more genetica lly distinct from one
another on the west coast than o n the east coast of
North America (Cembella and Taylor 1986, Hayhome et al. 1989) .
Among freshwater phytoplankto n, there have
been two extensive e lectrophoretic studies of genetic polymorphism in natural populations. Soudek
and Robinson (1983) examined electrophoretic variability among strains of Asierionella!orlllosa fro m 32
different lakes or waterways. Whereas their study
clearly shows a high degree of variation among all
the clones, the autho rs also suggest that the low
genetic variabili(y observed amo ng isolates from the
same site reAects genetic homogeneity in local populations. However, since most si tes were sampled
only once, and since the median numbe r of clones
isolated from each site was less than three, Gallagher's work suggests that the sampling program was
inadequate to evaluate within-site genetic variability. Coesel and Menken (1988) examined genetic
variability within and among 17 populations of the
desmids Closterium ehrenbergii and C. moniliferulII. A
total of 278 clones were isolated from 17 populations in Holland and England, with a median o f mo re
than te n clones per site. This mo re statisticall y rigorous study showed very little genetic variation (but
some) within populatio ns. The Dutch and English
C. ehrenbergii strains were almost as distinct from
I~r,--------------------------,
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om
c
I ()()()
Q)O> ~
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mo
100
>'0
~o
:~
~
o
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to
I . IX
1.2X
2.0X
4.0X
Q)
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CT
~
FE
e
"-
10
12
Flc. I . Time for initially rare. but eco logica lly adapted. geno type to become abundant whe n the more abundant genotypes
grow 10% (0) to 400 % (6) more slO\... ly tha n the adapted genotype. Conceptua lly. this cou ld be compared to clona l succession
in a cha ngi ng environment or to th e takeover ora population by
a strain with a new ravorable mutation. Model assumes asexua l
reproductio n (rrom Wood 1989).
726
1.2
1.J
a;
'"
0.9
'"
0.8
0.7
>
v
'"=
0~
21
22
23
24
2S
26
27
Temperature
1.2
'"
1.1
1.0
.~
e=
0.9
0~
'"
0.8
0.7
0.6
21
22
2J
24
2l
2.
27
Temperature
FIG. 2. Geno type x environment interaction (G x E) among
clones of ProrocmlrWlllllicans Ehre nb. isolated from George's Bank
(lOp) and the Gulf of M aine (boLlom). Each line conneCtS the
growt h ra te or a given clone at 220 C \\'ith the growth rale of the
same clone at 260 C. Different lines represent different clones.
Signi ficant differences in the slope of the lines ind icate signi ficant
G x E, thal is, sign ificant ge netica ll y determined differences in
the effect of the increase in temperature on different clones. G x
E is more pronounced in the clo nes from the Gulf of Mai ne than
in the clones fro m George's Bank. Data from Brand ( 1985).
Hopefull y, the preceding remarks provide convincing evidence for t he importance of chang ing the
status quo. T he data do not sUPPQrt the conti n ued
ass um ptio n that " clonal di ffe rences in mari ne phytoplank to n in general are believed to be rare" (J ensen et al. 19 74: 155). We suggest that several important steps be taken.
Exercise more caution when interpreting the ecological
significance oj dala obtained Jrom si.ngle strains oj particular taxa. Studies in volving many species, but with
o nly one strain per species, can be used effectively
to compare groups defined at higher taxo no mic levels, assumin g da ta from replicates are ava ilable to
evaluate within-strain variatio n. T his is the approach used by Keller ( 1989) to show that significant
d imeth yl sulfide production is confin ed to only a few
classes of ph ytoplankton and by Brand (199 1) to
show that oceanic phytop lankto n have lower iron
requirements for growth than coastal phytoplankton .
Begi'n to consider the strain designation an essential
part oj the nOlllenclature Jo, phytoplankton that aTe in
wlillre. When discussing the resul ts obtained with
o ne strain of a putati ve species, the strain designatio n, isolation information, and source of cultured
material sho uld always be provided in the tex t. If
the genus is clear ly identifiable, but the species-level
ide ntification has not been confirmed by someone
familiar with published descri ptions of type material, the strain designatio n ca n be substi tuted fo r the
specific epithet in both t he text and title ofthe paper.
If the strain has been fi rmly identified to species,
care should be take n in the tex t and tiLie to avo id
using the species name alone (w ith out strain designatio n) whe n discussing traits or properties that have
o nl y been stud ied in a particular strain . T hese are
all commo n practices in microbio logy and a matter
of required style in some micro bio logical j o urnals.
Since this is becomin g mo re common in the phytoplank to n literature (Kana and Glibert 198 7, Garcia-Pichel and Castenho lz 1990, 199 1), we suggest
that this concept of ide nti fica t ion be extended to
eukar yotic phytoplank to n and adopted mo re generally in our discipline . If mo rphologically similar
o r identica l phytoplank ton can be geneticall y and
ph ysiologically very di ffe rent, we are likely to have
more realistic insights into the life of a phytoplankter if we begin to think of each clonal genotype as
a very distinct lineage, with differences from other
members of its "species" possibly as great as from
members of another "species" and , for some characters, greater simi larity to me mbers of another
"species" tha n of its own.
Identify the ecological significance of morphological traits
used to dislinguish a.mong species. Morphologica l variation is well known within putative phytoplankton
taxa and is often caused by environmental factors.
At some point, when genetically determined morphological variation among specimens is great
enough. putative species are split into multiple species groups (cf. Theriot 1987, 199 2, Rines and Hargraves 1990, Medlin 199 1, Young and Westbroek
1991). Much of this analysis seems irrelevent to many
phytoplankton ecologists, altho ugh seem ingly minor morpho logical features can play important functional roles (Medl in et al. 1986) and, therefore, affect an individual's fitness. Despite recent advances
in the study of phytoplankton sexual reproduction
(Mann 1984, 1987, 1988, Blackburn and Tyler 1987,
Destombe and Cern bella 1990, Faust 1992), ecologists wi ll probably be relying on morphologica l criteria to describe community structure for some time
to come. For this reason , it would be useful to know
when morphological criteria used to distinguish p hytoplankton species consistently inAuence Aux processes like sinking and grazi ng, optical properties
like scattering coefficient, or other ecologically important variables. For example, permanent attachments can be formed between adjacent cells in chains
of Skeletonellla cosla.lum (Grev.) Cleve but not among
cells in chains of the nearly morphologically identical S. pseudocosta.tum Medlin (Med lin 199 1). The
kind of studies we suggest would dete rmine whet her
or not this difference affects the likelih ood of chain
disintegration in the two species. Does grazing on
Skeletonema produce m OTe intact survivors in populations of S. pseudocoslalUln a nd more dissolved organic carbon from broken cells in S. costatwn? If so,
correct identification of Skelelonema. species in natural populations could provide anci llary information
abo ut the kinds of grazing and detrital pathways
operating in the ecosystem.
Identify ecologicall), important traits consistenil), correlated wilh the morphological features used to distinguish
among species or sub-species. II is also important to
identify ecologically important characters that are
uniquely correlated with the morphological characters used to distinguish amo ng phytoplankton species. For example, the 11tultiseries form of Nitzschia
pungens is identified by the characteristic number of
rows of poroids between the costae on t he valve
(Hasle 1965). However, all strains in the multis...ies
form also make the potent neurotoxin domoic acid,
and other forms of Nitzschia pungens apparently do
not (Bates et al. 1989, Fryxell et al. 1990). T his is
the kind of situation where accurate taxonomy, based
727
on traditional morphological criteria, provides extremely important information about ecosystem-lflVeI processes.
A.M. W. tha nk s R. R. L. Guillard for his willingness to r ide in a
Pinto. We also thank P. Kociolek. E. Therio t. and L. VanValen
for useful d iscuss io n, E. Theriot for access to unpubli shed work ,
T. Kibota for timely assistance . and N. Apelian, S. Brawley. R.
Casl.en hol z, R. Lande. L. Shapiro, and an anonymous r eviewer
for cri tica l review of the manuscript. This work was supponed
by DOE contract DE-FGD6-92ER61417.
(Castenholz): Genic variation, as measu red by enzyme
elec trophoreti c palterns, o ligonucleotide probes, RAPD assays,
and other modern methods, can now be used to characterize a
popu lation referred to as a "species" t hat was originally defined
by phenotypic characte rs. In you r opinions, how does this new
genic information on variabi lity affect spec ies limits and spec ies
concept, panicularly for these eukaryotic groups of phytoplankton that you have bee n discussing?
Qlles/ioll
AlIswn: There are two main wa ys. First , some of these methods
QIU'Sl ioll
728
Ph),col.j. 2 1:297- 30 1.
Murphy. L. S. & Be lastock , R. A. 1980. T he e ffect of e nvironme ntal o ri gin on th e response of ma r in e dia toms lO c he mica l
stress. Limllol. OCl'{lIIogr. 25: 160-5.
Nelson, D. M. , Goerin g, ].]. , Kilha m , S. S. & G uilla rd , R. R. L.
1976. Kinetics of silicic acid upta ke and ra tes of sil ica di ssoluti on in th e marine d ia to m Tlwla ssiosira PSl'udolU/1/a. I
PhJcol. 12: 246- 52.
Paasche, E., Bryceson. & T a nge n, K. 1984 . Illle rspeci fi c va ria tion in da r k nitrogen uplake by din ofl agella tes.). 1'11.)"(01. 20 :
394-40 I.
Parejko, K. & Dodson , S. I. 199 I. Th e evolutio na r y ecology of
a n a nt ipredator r eactio n no rm : Daphnia /mlpx a nd Chaoborlls
all/pyica llllS. Evolulioll 45: 1665 - 74 .
Rin es, J . E. B. & Ha r gra ves, P. E. 199 0. Mo rph o logy and taxonomy o f Chal'locl'l"US cOIII/)rI'SS IIS La ude r va r . lIirtisl'lllS va r.
1I0va,
729
170-6.
va n Bl e ijswijk , ]. , van de l' Wal. P. , Ke mpe rs, R., Veldhuis, M. &
Voun g, ]. R. 199 1. Di str ibu tion o f two types o f Elllilirll/a
11II.\II'.\"i (Prymnesio ph yceae) in th e no rth west Atlanti c regio n
as dete rmined by immun oflu o rescence and coccolith mo r-