Lithothamnion species (hapalidiales, rhodophyta) in the arctic and subarctic: providing a systematics foundation in a time of rapid climate change

• Published in: Phycologia
• Main Authors: Peña, Viviana, Bélanger, David, Gagnon, Patrick, Richards, Joseph, L, Le Gall, Line, Hughey, Jeffery, R, Saunders, Gary, W, Lindstrom, Sandra, C, Rinde, Eli, Husa, Vivian, Christie, Hartvig, Fredriksen, Stein, Hallspencer, Jason, M, Steneck, Robert, S, Schoenrock, Kathryn, M, Gitmark, Janne, Grefsrud, Ellen, Sofie, Anglès d'Auriac, Marc, B, Legrand, Erwann, Grall, Jacques, Mumford, Thomas, M, Kamenos, Nicholas, A, Gabrielson, Paul, W
• Other Authors: Universidade da Coruña, Thales Canada (Thales Canada), Centre Eau Terre Environnement Québec (INRS - ETE), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique Québec (INRS), Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB ), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA), Hartnell College, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences = Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU), Skane University Hospital Lund, Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Finnish Institute of Marine Research (FIMR), Department of Biosciences Oslo, University of Oslo (UiO), National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway), Adaptation et diversité en milieu marin (ADMM), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Station biologique de Roscoff = Roscoff Marine Station (SBR), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC), University of North Carolina System (UNC), International Phycological Society, Antonio Jose Calado; Alejandro H. Buschmann; Sandra V. Pereda; Carolina Camus; Olivier De Clerck
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Arctic; Climate change; Northeast Atlantic; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://mnhn.hal.science/mnhn-03971639; https://doi.org/10.1080/00318884.2021.1922050

International audience Coralline red algae in the genera Clathromorphum, Phymatolithon and Lithothamnion are important benthic ecosystem engineers in the photic zone of the Arctic and Subarctic. In these regions, the systematics and biogeography of Clathromorphum and Phymatolithon species have mostly been resolved whereas Lithothamnion species have not. Seventy-three specific and infraspecific names have been given to Arctic and Subarctic Lithothamnion specimens, the vast majority by Mikael H. Foslie in the late 19th and early 20th century. From the type specimens of 38 of these names, partial rbcL sequences were obtained that enabled us to correctly apply the earliest available names and to correctly place the remainder in synonymy. Three of the four Arctic and Subarctic Lithothamnion species, L. lemoineae, L. soriferum and L. tophiforme were distinct based on all three sequenced genes, two plastid encoded, rbcL and psbA, and the mitochondrial encoded COI-5P; rbcL and COI-5P also segregated L. glaciale from L. tophiforme but psbA did not. Based on DNA sequences, morpho-anatomy and biogeography, we recognize all four species. It is difficult to identify these species based on morpho-anatomy and they can all occur as encrusting corallines, as rhodoliths or as maerl. We demonstrate the importance of sequencing these historical type specimens by showing that the recently proposed northeast Atlantic L. erinaceum is a synonym of one of the earliest published Arctic species of Lithothamnion, L. soriferum, itself incorrectly placed in synonymy under L. tophiforme based on morpho-anatomy. Based on sequenced specimens, we update the distributions and ecology of these species. ²