The paper, titled ‘Ulva L. biodiversity in the central Mediterranean Sea: cryptic species and new records ‘ can be accessed through this .
The research was carried out at the Lab of Applied Phycology of the University of Malta and details new records of Ulva torta and Ulva californica from the shallow benthos surrounding the ÄŠirkewwa desalination plant. Such sites may be exploited by opportunistic pioneering and non-native species that establish themselves in the coastal area impacted by the brine outfall.
This past year has certainly been a busy one as regards the description of new algal biodiversity from Maltese coastal waters. Various algae have been reported for the first time from the waters surrounding the Maltese islands, through algal isolation from incubated natural substrata, coupled with DNA sequencing of various biomarkers, including COI, tufA, rbcL plus the RuBisCO spacer and the ITS.
These new records include the green algae Ulvella endostraca and Blastophysa rhizopus, the red alga Palisada tenerrima, the brown algae Hincksia mitchelliae (Feldmannia mitchelliae), Hecatonema terminale, Striaria attenuata and the chromophyte Schizocladia ischiensis.
As regards the newly published marine cyanobacterial genera, these include the filamentous Leptolyngbya, Phormidesmis, Nodosilinea, Toxifilum, Phormidium and Lyngbya, as well as heterocytous Calothrix and Nunduva spp. The coccal cyanobacteria included species of Aphanocapsa and Chroococcus, whereas coccal microalgae belonged to Chlorella, Chlamydomonas and Coelastrella spp., as well as diatoms of Navicula sp.
These were isolated in culture from biofilms growing along the Sliema coastline between Exiles and Surfside. Most of these cyanobacteria and microalgae have a cryptic morphology, so had to be identified by DNA sequencing of the SSU rRNA genes, as well as phylogenetic analysis. This is their first such record from biofilm communities that are adapted to grow in the Maltese coastal environment. The photo shows a segment of the coastline that was studied.
For more information, please contact Dr Gabrielle Zammit.
