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Trade-off between vegetative regeneration and sexual reproduction of Sargassum thunbergii

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Abstract

An ecological demographic study was conducted from January to December 2009 at Changshan Island on the northern side of Shandong Peninsula, China. The study investigated stem regeneration and the resource trade-off between sexual reproduction and vegetative regeneration of the brown alga Sargassum thunbergii at the individual thallus level. Stem regeneration from the holdfast occurred year round but with significant seasonality, peaking in the early summer. Both percentage of fertile stems and reproductive effort were negatively correlated with stem regeneration in the middle and later periods of sexual reproduction. Furthermore, the correlation coefficients increased significantly with time. These observations suggested that an increase in resource allocation to sexual reproduction would lead to a decrease in allocation to vegetative regeneration during the reproductive period. Reproductive effort was lower and stem regeneration was higher in the wave-exposed location compared with the sheltered location, indicating that allocation of resources between sexual reproduction and vegetative regeneration varied with location. When reproductive tissues were removed, the number of new stems produced from holdfasts increased, and when new stems were removed, an increase in reproductive effort occurred. These results suggest that trade-off between sexual reproduction and vegetative regeneration occurs in S. thunbergii.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31070376) and the Developmental Program of Science and Technology of Shandong Province, China (no. 2009GG10005008). Special thanks go to Dr Leonard Vining for his great help in proofreading the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ocean School, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, People’s Republic of China

    Shaohua Chu, Quansheng Zhang, Shubao Zhang, Yongzheng Tang, Zhicheng Lu & Yongqiang Yu

  2. Fish Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology Laboratory, Auburn University, Auburn, 36849, AL, USA

    Shikai Liu

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  1. Shaohua Chu
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  2. Quansheng Zhang
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  3. Shikai Liu
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  4. Shubao Zhang
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  7. Yongqiang Yu
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Correspondence to Quansheng Zhang.

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Handling editor: Sidinei Magela Thomaz

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Chu, S., Zhang, Q., Liu, S. et al. Trade-off between vegetative regeneration and sexual reproduction of Sargassum thunbergii . Hydrobiologia 678, 127–135 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0835-9

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