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Concise review of genus Chondracanthus (Rhodophyta: Gigartinales)

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Abstract

Members of the genus Chondracanthus (Rhodophyta, Gigartinales) inhabit the shores of both hemispheres and have been used for decades in some countries as raw material for carrageenan extraction and in some cases destined for human consumption. This has created potential business opportunities, which has drawn the attention of scientists and producers and increased the number of scientific and applied research studies in the last few years. The broad morphological variation of Chondracanthus species makes necessary the use of molecular tools for species delimitation, which has led to the re-grouping and geographic re-distribution of some entities. The present study is a review of the available literature on members of the genus Chondracanthus, with the exception of Chondracanthus teedei, regarding their identity, distribution, ecology, life history, population structure, chemical traits, handling, and culture.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Victoria López Alarcón for providing Fig. 1. Contreras-Porcia thank CONICYT PIA/BASAL FB0002. Also, we appreciate the support of Quintay Marine Research Center – CIMARQ. Bulboa thanks FONDEF ID15I10320.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, República 440, Santiago, Chile

    Cristian Bulboa Contador, Ignacio Pérez Massad, Loretto Contreras-Porcia, Javier Zapata, Francisco Castañeda & María Eliana Ramírez

  2. Centro de Investigación Marina Quintay (CIMARQ), Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Quintay, Chile

    Cristian Bulboa Contador, Loretto Contreras-Porcia & Francisco Castañeda

  3. Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Santiago, Chile

    Loretto Contreras-Porcia

  4. Centro de Investigación e Innovación para el Cambio Climático (CiiCC), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Santo Tomás, Ejército 146, Santiago, Chile

    Javier Zapata

  5. Área Botánica, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Casilla 787, Santiago, Chile

    María Eliana Ramírez

  6. Departamento de Manejo Pesquero y Medio Ambiente, Facultad de Pesquería, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Av. La Universidad s/n. La Molina, Lima, Perú

    Patricia Gil-Kodaka

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  1. Cristian Bulboa Contador
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Bulboa Contador, C., Massad, I.P., Contreras-Porcia, L. et al. Concise review of genus Chondracanthus (Rhodophyta: Gigartinales). J Appl Phycol 32, 773–785 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-019-01956-w

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