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DNA Barcodes of Caulerpa Species (Caulerpaceae, Chlorophyta) from the Northern Philippines

Richard V. Dumilag1*, Zae-Zae A. Aguinaldo1,2, Ver Angelo M. Alcoriza1,
Maria Pia Sarah B. Balucanag1, Allissa Rose T. Dulalia1, and Arnel R. Sayasa1

1Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University, Nicanor Reyes Sr. St., Sampaloc 1015 Manila, Philippines
2Marine Genomics and Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Marine Science Institute
College of Science, University of the Philippines, Diliman 1101 Quezon City, Philippines

*Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

ABSTRACT

Species discrimination in Caulerpa – a seaweed genus of economic importance – can be difficult because its members are often morphologically variable, occasionally with some morphological overlap between species. One of the most common approaches to circumvent this challenge is the integration of phenotypic data with information gained from short reference DNA sequences or DNA barcodes. Previous investigations based on this approach have incorporated only a limited number of specimens of Caulerpa from the Philippines. The present study aimed to identify Caulerpa collections from the northern Philippines aided with DNA barcodes. TufA gene sequence data of recent intertidal and shallow subtidal collections confirmed the presence of seven genetically recognized Caulerpa species in the northern Philippines, namely C. chemnitzia, C. cupressoides, C. elongata, C. oligophylla, C. racemosa, C. serrulata, and C. sertularioides. Caulerpa elongata and C. oligophylla were confirmed occurring in the area for the first time. With the addition of species recorded previously but not found during the present study, this brings the total number of Caulerpa species in the region to 15 species.

 

INTRODUCTION

Caulerpa is a genus of marine green algae comprising 97 currently recognized species (Guiry and Guiry 2018). The genus is pantropical in distribution but also extends into temperate waters. Its members often form turf communities in the shallow intertidal (Belton et al. 2015) to depths of up to 100 m (Belsher and Meinesz 1995). Caulerpa is predominantly an Old World assemblage, having so far the highest species diversity in Australia (Price 2011, Belton et al. 2019). Despite the occurrence of several invasive pest taxa (Meinesz 2002, Klein and Verlaque 2008), species of Caulerpa can constitute important components within their native ranges (Alcala et al. 1972, Kuenen and Debrot 1995, Crockett and Keough 2014). . . . . read more

 

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