(Press-News.org) Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have discovered that what was previously thought to be a unique seaweed species of bladderwrack for the Baltic Sea is in fact a giant clone of common bladderwrack, perhaps the world's largest clone overall. The discovery has implications for predicting the future of seaweed in a changing ocean.
In the brakish waters of the Baltic Sea, bladderwrack is the dominant seaweed species as it is one of the few seaweed species that can tolerate low salinity.
The seaweed forms large forests from the surface down to a depth of 10 metres. Fish fry, snails and crustaceans thrive here, and the kelp forests also provide an important habitat for larger fish. This makes it an interesting species for researchers to study. Using genetic mapping of marine species is one way to understand how these species should be managed.
Falsely mistaken for an own species
“The Baltic Sea is entering a period of warmer and probably even fresher seawater. In new conditions, all species must try to adapt in order to survive, including the important bladderwrack,” says Kerstin Johannesson, Professor of Marine Ecology at the University of Gothenburg and one of the lead authors of a new study in the journal Molecular Ecology.
Through DNA sequencing, the researchers have found that a small, bushy form of seaweed in the Baltic Sea that was previously thought to be a separate species (called narrow wrack) is a clone of bladderwrack. The clone has formed new populations by dispersing fragments of an original female plant with the water currents and growing into new individuals of wrack. The clone spreads over more than 500 km of the coast of the Bothnian Sea, from Öregrund in Uppland to just south of Umeå, and may be the world's largest clone of any organism.
Millions of individuals in one clone
Bladderwrack has separate male and female plants that normally form new individuals after sexual fertilisation.
“This clone comprises millions of individuals, and in some areas, it is completely dominant, while in other areas it grows alongside sexually propagated individuals of bladderwrack. We have found a few more large clones in the Baltic Sea, but the female clone off the Swedish Gulf of Bothnia is by far the largest clone – a real super female,” says Ricardo Pereyra, researcher in the group who led the genetic analyses.
Uncertain future for clones
Seaweed clones face an uncertain future as the Baltic Sea is affected by climate change. Without constant sexual reproduction, there are few genetic changes and adaptations in the genetic material of the stocks.
“A clone almost completely lacks the genetic variation that otherwise means that there are individuals in a population that can handle the changes and make the species survive,” says Kerstin Johannesson.
New species in Estonia
During the survey, the researchers from the University of Gothenburg also identified a new species of seaweed on the Estonian coast which, like the small seaweed clone, is small and bushy, but has both males and females and reproduces only sexually. This seaweed is very closely related to bladderwrack but is currently reproductively isolated from bladderwrack in the area.
END
Giant clone of seaweed in the Baltic Sea
2025-03-04
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Motion capture: In world 1st, M. mobile’s motility apparatus clarified
2025-03-04
Mycoplasmas, including bacteria that cause pneumonia in humans, are generally nonmotile, but Mycoplasma mobile, as the species name suggests, has been found in the gills of fish and seems to move by gliding along surfaces. The molecular structure that allows it to do so has for the first time been uncovered by a collaborative research group led by Osaka Metropolitan University Professor Makoto Miyata of the Graduate School of Science.
The OMU-led research team has been working since 1997 to clarify M. mobile’s motility mechanisms. ...
One-third of older Canadians at nutritional risk, study finds
2025-03-04
One-third of Canadian adults aged 55 or older are nutritionally at risk, potentially leading to increased hospital stays, more emergency visits and physician consultations for possible infections, a new study found.
The University of Waterloo researchers assessed data from more than 22,000 community-dwelling adults aged 55 and over from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. After an initial evaluation, they followed up with participants up to three years later to track their health-service use over the previous year.
Researchers used the SCREEN-8 tool (Seniors ...
Enhancing climate action: satellite insights into fossil fuel CO2 emissions
2025-03-04
Reliable and accurate monitoring of CO2 emissions is a cornerstone of effective climate change mitigation strategies. While traditional methods largely depend on ground-based measurements and bottom-up inventories, these approaches are often resource-intensive and prone to errors. Satellite Technology has emerged as a promising alternative, but the challenge remains in distinguishing anthropogenic emissions from natural processes. The long atmospheric lifetime of CO2 makes it difficult to pinpoint localized sources of emissions and track changes over time. Additionally, natural emissions and background concentrations ...
Operating a virtual teaching and research section as an open source community: Practice and experience
2025-03-04
The teaching and research section is the fundamental organizational unit for teaching and research in a university, and the virtual teaching and research section (VTRS) is a crucial exploration for the digital transformation of new basic teaching organization construction in the information age. However, this new type of organization transcends university and spatial boundaries, and motivating participants and sustaining their engagement is a key challenge in VTRS operation. The VTRS for database courses (VTRS-DB) proposes an open community-based operating model, founded on the core concepts of "openness, dedication, competition, and orderliness." ...
Lack of medical oxygen affects millions
2025-03-04
Six out of every ten people globally lack access to safe medical oxygen, resulting in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths each year and reducing quality of life for millions more, an international report co-authored by the University of Auckland has found.
Associate Professor Stephen Howie from the University’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FMHS) was an adviser to the Lancet Global Health Commission on Medical Oxygen Security and co-author of its report Reducing global inequities in medical oxygen access released 18 February.
A key finding shows global access to medical oxygen is highly inequitable. Five billion ...
Business School celebrates triple crown
2025-03-04
In a crowning achievement, the University of Auckland Business School is one of the best in the world, successfully gaining triple crown accreditation - a mark of excellence held by only one percent of business schools globally.
The Business School was the first in Australasia to attain triple crown status in 2004, a recognition it has maintained for two decades.
Triple crown status is achieved if a business school can meet the strict requirements of three international accreditation bodies – the Association to Advance ...
Can Rhizobium + low P increase the yield of common bean in Ethiopia?
2025-03-04
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is a leguminous plant that can form a symbiotic relationship with rhizobia in the soil. Rhizobia convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into ammonia, providing nitrogen nutrition for leguminous plants. However, due to the low effectiveness of rhizobia in the soil, common bean has one of the lowest nitrogen fixation efficiencies among food legumes. Some studies have shown that pre-inoculating common bean seeds with elite rhizobial strains can enhance nitrogen fixation, thereby promoting the plant growth of common bean and increasing the grain yield. As one of the most important food legumes in Ethiopia, the grain yield of common bean is quite low, because of the lack ...
Research Security Symposium on March 12
2025-03-04
In recent years, with the increasing openness and internationalization of research, the risks of inappropriate exploiting openness of research have become more apparent. With the growing importance of research security, the issue of how to safely promote cutting-edge research and international collaboration while respecting research freedom is becoming more important in many countries.
The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) organizes the symposium aiming to create an opportunity to deepen discussion on efforts necessary to protect research freedom. The symposium will consist of ...
Special type of fat tissue could promote healthful longevity and help maintain exercise capacity in aging
2025-03-04
Rutgers Health researchers have made discoveries about brown fat that may open a new path to helping people stay physically fit as they age.
A team from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School found that mice lacking a specific gene developed an unusually potent form of brown fat tissue that expanded lifespan and increased exercise capacity by roughly 30%. The team is working on a drug that could mimic these effects in humans.
“Exercise capacity diminishes as you get older, and to have a technique ...
Researchers develop high-water-soluble pyrene tetraone derivative to boost energy density of aqueous organic flow batteries
2025-03-04
Aqueous organic flow batteries (AOFBs) hold promise for renewable energy integration and electricity grid storage due to their inherent safety, as well as the availability of naturally abundant and synthetically tunable organic redox-active molecules (ORAMs). However, challenges such as low energy density, poor stability at high concentrations, and high synthesis costs hinder their commercial viability.
Developing ORAMs that offer both high energy density and ultra-stable cycling performance is essential for advancing stationary energy storage ...