Abstract
The determination of the members of Charales (Charophyceae) is not easy. The main reason of this is a wide range of variation in vegetative characters within most of the species. Many features such as the extent of branchlet cortication, the degree of incrustation, length and number of bract cells, spine cells, stipulodes, diameter of the main axis and oospore size and color do not have universal taxonomic significance. In similar, many Nitella species characters such as: general habitus, branchlets and presence of the top segment (mucro), are helpful in determination, however they are often not developed. In this case, the features of oospore wall ornamentation revealed by light and scanning microscopy can be important taxonomic characters of the Charales. The present study shows interspecific variations of the oospore in two Nitella species from Poland which can be helpful in correct determination of both species. Some of the oospore features like number of striae and fossa width can not be used, as they appeared statistically unimportant, and cannot be used in distinguishing between both species. The presented results are the first detailed report of oospore wall ornamentation pattern from Poland for the species studied. Oospore features are presented in detail on the background of some additional tips and among them particularly: length and width of the oospore, ISI idex, width of fossa, width of striae and number of striae.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Braun A. 1834. Esquisse monographique du genre Chara. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, sér. 2 Botanique 1: 349–357.
Braun A. & Nordstedt O. 1882. Fragmente einer Monographie der Characeen. Nach den hinterlassenen Manuskripten A. Braun’s herausgegeben von Dr. Otto Nordstedt. Abhandlungen der königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1882: 211 pp.
Casanova M.T. 1991. An SEM study of developmental variation in oospore wall ornamentation of three Nitella species (Charophyta) in Australia. Phycologia 30: 237–242.
Casanova M.T. 1997. Ospore variation in three species of Chara (Charales, Chlorophyta). Phycologia 36: 274–280.
Corel Corporation. 2002. Corel Draw 11.
Dąmbska I. 1964. Charophyta. Flora s’odkowodna Polski 13. PWN, Warszawa, 126 pp.
Erdtman G. 1960. The acetolysis method. Svensk botanisk Tidskrifter 54: 561–564.
Haas J.N. 1994. First identification key for oospores from central Europe. European J. Phycol. 29: 227–235.
John D.M. & Moore J.A. 1987. An SEM study of some oospore Nitella species (Charales, Chlorophyta) with descriptions of wall ornamentation and an assessment of its taxonomic importance. Phycologia 26: 334–355.
John D.M., Moore J.A. & Green D.R. 1990. Preliminary observations on the structure and ornamentation of the oosporangial wall in Chara (Charales, Chlorophyta). Br. Phycol. J. 25: 1–24.
Koske R.E. & Tessier B. 1983. A convinient, permanent slide mounting medium. Newsletter of the Mycological Society of America 34: 59.
Krause W. 1997. Charales (Charophceae). Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa; Bd. 18. Gustav Fisher Verlag, Jena, 202 pp.
Leitch A.R., John D.M. & Moore J.A. 1990. The oosporangium of the Characeae (Chlorphyta, Charales). Progr. Phycol. Res. 7: 213–268.
Ray S., Pekkari S. & Snoeijs P. 2001. Oospore dimensions and wall ornamentation patterns in Swedish charophytes. Nordic J. Bot. 21(2): 207–224.
Sakayama H., Nozaki H., Kasaki H. & Hara Y. 2002. Taxonomic re-examination of Nitella (Charales, Charaophyceae) from Japan based on microscopical studies of oospore wall ornamentation and rbcL gene sequence. Phycologia 41: 397–408
Sakayama H., Miyaji K., Nagumo T., Kato M., Hara Y. & Nozaki H. 2005. taxonomic reexamination of 17 species of Nitella subgenus tieffalenia (Charales, Charophyceae) based on internal morphology of the oospore wall and multiple DNA marker sequences. J. Phycol. 41: 195–211.
Sinkeviciénė Z., Blindow I. & Zhakova L. 2003. Nitella mucronata (A. Braun) Miq. in H.C. Hall 1840 emend. Wallman 1853, pp. 193–197. In: Schubert H. & Blindow I. (eds), Charophytes of the Baltic Sea, A. R. G. Gantner Verlg, Ruggel.
Soulie-Märsche I. 1989. Etude Compareč de Gyrogonites de Charophytes Actuelles et Fossiles et Phylogénie des Genres Actuels. Université des Sciences et Techniques du Languedocs, Montpelier 237 pp.
Statsoft Inc. 2005. Statistica (data analysis software system), version 7.1. www.statsoft.com.
Wood R.D. 1965. Monograph of the Characeae. In: Wood R.D. & Imahori K. (eds), A revision of the Characeae. Vol. I. Cramer, Weinheim. XXIV + 904 pp.
Urbaniak J. 2007. Distribution of Chara braunii Gmellin 1826 (Charophyta) in Poland. Acta Soc. Botanic. Polon. 76: 313–320.
Urbaniak J., Gąbka M. & Blaženčić J. 2008. Nitella tenuissima, a rare Charophyte in Central and Southern Europe. Cryptogamie, Algologie 29(2): 161–171.
Zhakova L. 2003. Nitella gracilis (Sm.) C. Agardh 1824, pp. 181–185. In: Schubert H. & Blindow I. (eds), Charophytes of the Baltic Sea, A. R. G. Gantner Verlg, Ruggel.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Urbaniak, J. Oospore variation in Nitella gracilis and Nitella mucronata (Charales, Charophyceae) from Poland. Biologia 64, 252–260 (2009). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-009-0049-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-009-0049-z