Observations

Some interesting observations made during the professional practice

Big Sargassum muticum populations were present in the harbor

Invasive species Sargassum muticum may not be as harmful as usually believed

In the harbour many invasive species are present due to the fact that they are easily brought in via boats coming from different regions. One of these invasive species is Sargassum muticum. We thought that this species might interfere with the local algae diversity however contrary to what we thought a lot of diversity of the local algae species were observed close to the big Sargassum muticum populations.

Pressed Gastroclonium reflexum for the herbarium. Ruler is in centimeters.

First time we found Gastroclonium reflexum

During my professional practice my supervisor and I identified an algae that we had collected at the harbour as Gastroclonium reflexum. This was the first time my supervisor Fabio Rindi had sampled this species in La Riviera Del Conero. Considering he has been sampling and identifying algae for the past 10 years this was quite a special find.

Gastroclonium reflexum observed under the microscope

Many of the sampled algae contained reproductive structures

Many of the sampled algae contained reproductive structures. Algae reproduce by a variety of methods, both sexual and asexual. Below you can observe a few examples of the many reproductive structures I observed.

Spores present in Cladophora vagabunda. It should not take long anymore after this video was taken for the spores to burst loose and disperse.

Tetraspores found in Nitophyllum punctatum

Tetraspores observed in Melanothamus japonicus

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