Authors: Kimberly Y Conklin Akira Kurihara Alison R Sherwood
Publish Date: 2009/01/31
Volume: 21, Issue: 6, Pages: 691-
Abstract
A paucity of diagnostic morphological characters for identification and high morphological plasticity within the genera Eucheuma and Kappaphycus has led to confusion about the distributions and spread of three introduced eucheumoid species in Hawaii Entities previously identified as E denticulatum K alvarezii and K striatum have had profound negative effects on Oahu’s coral reef ecosystems The use of molecular tools to aid identification of algal species has been promising in other morphologically challenging taxa We used three molecular markers partial nuclear 28S rRNA partial plastid 23S rRNA and mitochondrial 5′ COI and followed a DNA barcodinglike approach to identify Eucheuma and Kappaphycus samples from Hawaii Neighborjoining analyses were congruent in their separation of Eucheuma and Kappaphycus and the resulting clusters were consistent with those revealed for global comparisons with the mitochondrial cox23 spacer and GenBank data Based on these results new insights were revealed into the distribution of these groups in HawaiiWe are grateful to Brian Hauk and the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources DAR for providing many of our samples We would also like to thank Dr Eric Conklin for field assistance and insights Dr Celia Smith for constructive criticism of the manuscript and the Sherwood laboratory for general support We also thank the staff of the Bernice P Bishop Museum Honolulu especially Napua Narbottle for their assistance and overall support of molecular analyses of archived material This study was supported by the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources a grant from the US National Science Foundation to ARS and GG Presting DEB0542608 and the University of Hawaii
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