Pelvetia
| Pelvetia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Close-up | |
| |
| Growing on the side of a slipway | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Clade: | Diaphoretickes |
| Clade: | SAR |
| Clade: | Stramenopiles |
| Phylum: | Gyrista |
| Subphylum: | Ochrophytina |
| Class: | Phaeophyceae |
| Order: | Fucales |
| Family: | Fucaceae |
| Genus: | Pelvetia Decne. & Thur. |
| Species: | P. canaliculata
|
| Binomial name | |
| Pelvetia canaliculata | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Pelvetia canaliculata, the channelled wrack,[2] is a very common brown alga (Phaeophyceae) found on the rocks of the upper shores of Europe. It is the only species remaining in the monotypic genus Pelvetia.[1][3] In 1999, the other members of this genus were reclassified as Silvetia due to differences of oogonium structure and of nucleic acid sequences of the rDNA.[4]
Description
[edit]Pelvetia grows to a maximum length of 15 centimetres (6 in) in dense tufts, the fronds being deeply channeled on one side: the channels and a mucus layer help prevent the seaweed drying (desiccation) when the tide is out. It is irregularly dichotomously branched[5] with terminal receptacles,[6] and is dark brown in color. Each branch is of uniform width and without a midrib. The receptacles are forked at the tips.
It is distinguished from other large brown algae by the channels along the frond. It has no mid-rib, no air-vesicles and no cryptostomata. It forms the uppermost zone of algae on the shore growing at or above high-water mark.[7] The reproductive organs form swollen, irregularly shaped receptacles at the end of the branches. The conceptacles are hermaphrodite and borne within the receptacles at the apices.
Taxonomy
[edit]The genus name of Pelvetia is in honour of François Alexandre Pelvet (1801–1882), who was a French naturalist and plant collector.[8]
The genus was circumscribed by Joseph Decaisne and Gustave Adolphe Thuret in Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. ser. 3, vol. 3 on page 12 in 1845.
Reproduction
[edit]Both sexes occur in the same plant, the reproductive structures develop at the apices.[9] The receptacles are swollen during the summer and are yellowish-green at maturity.[10]
Ecology
[edit]Pelvetia canaliculata is the only large algae growing on rocks forming a zone along the upper shore at the upper littoral zone, on the shores of the British Isles. It tolerates a wide range of exposure conditions.[11] It needs periods of exposure to the air, and sometimes grows so high up a beach that coarse grass and other longshore angiosperms grow among it. If it is submerged for more than six hours out of 12 it begins to decay.[12]
Distribution
[edit]Pelvetia canaliculata is common on the Atlantic shores of Europe from Iceland to Spain, including Norway, Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France and Portugal.[13] In Ireland, collection of Pelvetia canaliculata (Irish: dúlamán) has been recorded as a source of sustenance during times of famine.[14] A popular Irish folk song, Dúlamán, describes events transpiring between two people who collected the seaweed as a profession.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ a b M. D. Guiry & G. M. Guiry. "Genus: Pelvetia". AlgaeBase. National University of Ireland, Galway. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ David Chapman (2008). Exploring the Cornish Coast. Penzance: Alison Hodge. p. 27. ISBN 9780906720561.
- ^ Fernando G. Cánovas; Catarina F. Mota; Ester A. Serrão; Gareth A. Pearson (2011). "Driving south: a multi-gene phylogeny of the brown algal family Fucaceae reveals relationships and recent drivers of a marine radiation". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 11: 371. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-11-371. PMC 3292578. PMID 22188734.
- ^ Ester A. Serrão; Lawrence A. Alice; Susan H. Brawley (1999). "Evolution of the Fucaceae (Phaeophyceae) inferred from nrDNA-ITS" (PDF). Journal of Phycology. 35 (2): 382–394. doi:10.1046/j.1529-8817.1999.3520382.x. hdl:10400.1/4045. S2CID 84542536. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ W. E. Jones (1962). "A key to the genera of British seaweeds". Field Studies. 1 (4): 1–32.
- ^ L. Newton (1931). A Handbook of the British Seaweeds. British Museum, London.
- ^ C. I. Dickinson (1963). British Seaweeds. The Kew Series.
- ^ Burkhardt, Lotte (2022). Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen [Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2022. ISBN 978-3-946292-41-8. S2CID 246307410. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
- ^ Bunker, F.StP. D., Brodie, J.A., Maggs, C.A. and Bunker, A.R. 2017 Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland. Second Edition. Wild Nature Press, Plymouth, UK. ISBN 978-0-9955673-3-7
- ^ Dickinson, C.I. 1963. British Seaweeds. The Kew Series
- ^ J. R. Lewis (1964). The Ecology of the Rocky Shores. The English Universities Press Ltd. London.
- ^ D. Thomas (2002). Seaweeds. Life Series. London: Natural History Museum. ISBN 978-0-565-09175-0.
- ^ M. D. Guiry & Wendy Guiry (October 25, 2006). "Pelvetia canaliculata (Linnaeus) Decaisne & Thuret". AlgaeBase.
- ^ Doreen McBride (1994). "When Hunger Stalked the North".
External links
[edit]
Media related to Pelvetia at Wikimedia Commons- N. White (2006). "Channelled wrack, Pelvetia canaliculata". Marine Life Information Network for Britain and Ireland. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 2008-02-07. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- David W. Connor; James H. Allen; Neil Golding; Kerry L. Howell; Louise M. Lieberknecht; Kate O. Northern; Johnny B. Reker (2004). LR.LLR.F.Pel: Pelvetia canaliculata on sheltered littoral fringe rock. JNCC, Peterborough. ISBN 978-1-861-07561-1. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
