Phycological Herbaria as a Useful Tool to Monitor Long-Term Changes of Macroalgae Diversity: Some Case Studies from the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is currently experiencing a decline in the abundance of several key species, as a consequence of anthropogenic pressures (e.g., increase in human population, habitat modification and loss, pollution, coastal urbanization, overexploitation, introduction of non-indigenous species and climate change). Herbaria and natural history collections are certainly fundamental for taxonomic studies, but they are also an invaluable, if currently underestimated, resource for understanding ecological and evolutionary responses of species to environmental changes. Macroalgae herbarium collections, which are really consistent (ranging from 200,000 to approximately 500,000 specimens) in …
Botryocladia chiajeana and Botryocladia macaronesica sp. nov. (Rhodymeniaceae, Rhodophyta) from the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic, with a discussion on the closely related genus Irvinea.
Copyright © 2006 International Phycological Society. Specimens from the eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and Adriatic seas previously reported as Botryocladia chiajeana showed differences in morphology, and re-examination of Meneghini's original collection of Chrysymenia chiajeana (basionym B. chiajeana) revealed that only the Mediterranean and Adriatic specimens are in agreement with the original protologue, whereas plants reported from the eastern Atlantic are recognised here as Botryocladia macaronesica Afonso-Carrillo, Sobrino, Tittley & Neto sp. nov. The vegetative and reproductive morphology of western Mediterranean plants is examined in detail for the first time, and B. chiajeana is c…