About the project

• Marine green algae are commonly found in coastal marine ecosystems, but have been largely overlooked. Our project, focusing on small filamentous (filamentous) marine green algae (MFGA), addresses a major knowledge gap in Norway. Macroalgae are hosts to a wide range of small (<0.5 cm), often hidden algae. Some species grow on the surface of the host (epiphytes) while others grow inside the macroalgae (endophytes).
• Taxonomic work on MFGA is challenging because it is difficult to find and identify them in the field, and because they often lack defining morphological features. The occurrence of cryptic diversity (where species cannot be distinguished from each other based on morphology) further complicates the taxonomy of this group. In addition, different species can often coexist, making cultivation necessary to separate the species for species identification. As a result, they have remained largely unnoticed and there are large taxonomic and biogeographic knowledge gaps in Norway, and also in the rest of the world. There has also been little focus on DNA barcoding and mapping the total diversity of green algae in Norway.
• These algae are important ecologically and economically. They can be both symbiotic and parasitic and contribute to host dynamics over seasons. Several economically important macroalgae species are known to be affected by these green algae. We will base our study on both field observations and cultivation in the laboratory, as well as using molecular techniques. For the first time for this algae group, we will combine multi-locus data with model-based species delineation and high-throughput sequencing. We will use chloroplast genome sequences, which are known to provide well-resolved phylogenies and evolutionary history of these green algae. Using this approach, we will be able to identify species, investigate cryptic diversity, map species distribution and create a DNA barcoding library for future application of eDNA techniques.

• Participants
• External participants

  • Olivier de Clerck (University of Ghent, Belgium) - partner, phylogeny, biogeography
  • Ruth Nielsen (Natural History Museum of Denmark, Denmark) - partner, advisory panel
  • Juliet Brodie (Natural History Museum, London, UK) - partner - advisory panel, fieldtrip
  • Heroen Verbruggen (School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia) - partner, phylogeny, HTS
  • Frederik Leliaert (Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium) - partner, model-based species delimitation
  • Sophie Steinhagen (University of Gothenburg, Department of Marine Sciences, Sweden) - partner, phylogeny, fieldtrip
  • Inga Kjersti Sjøtun (University of Bergen, Department of Biological Sciences, Bergen) - partner, advisory panel, fieldtrip
  • Markus Molis (The Arctic University of Norway, UiT, Department of Arctic and Marine Biology) - partner, advisory panel, fieldtrip
  • NorBOL (Trondheim) - collaborator, barcoding