Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Botanica Marina
ISSN
0006-8055
Publication Date
2-2017
Keywords
Aragonite, Diffusion pathway, Halimeda, Microstructure, Ultrastructure
Abstract
Variations in utricle morphology may be responsible for different tolerances to ocean acidification (OA) within the macroalgal genus Halimeda, an important sediment producer on reefs. However, differences in species’ utricle morphology and their relationship to calcification and crystal formation have not been well articulated. In the present study, we characterized the utricle morphologies of six Halimeda species. Primary utricle ultrastructure was quantitatively and qualitatively compared to tissue inorganic content and crystal microstructure. Morphologies differed across species and several morphometric relationships were revealed. Primary utricle size (r2=0.70) and diffusion pathway length (r2=0.87) had inverse relationships with inorganic content based on regression analyses, and corresponded to crystal microstructure form. Species with large utricles and long diffusion pathways contained more narrow (~0.15 μm) aragonite needles and minimal micro-anhedral crystal formations. In contrast, species with small utricles and short diffusion pathways elucidated aggregates of micro-anhedral crystals and wider aragonite needles (~0.30 μm). Species’ utricle characteristics generally corresponded to specific evolutionary lineages. Thus, characteristics of Halimeda utricle morphology may control long-term adaptive responses to OA, an idea articulated in the broader literature.
DOI
10.1515/bot-2016-0055
Volume
60
Issue
1
First Page
1
Last Page
11
NSUWorks Citation
Katherine E. Peach, Marguerite S. Koch, Patricia Blackwelder, Debbie Guerrero-Given, and Naomi Kamasawa. 2017. Primary Utricle Structure of Six Halimeda Species and Potential Relevance for Ocean Acidification Tolerance .Botanica Marina , (1) : 1 -11. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/789.
