In Porphyra umbilicalis, circadian rhythms of nuclear division and growth activity persisted for at least 7 cycles in continuous white fluorescent light, with a period of 21 h for the free-running growth rhythm at 15 μmol m−2 s−1 and 10°C. Growth rhythmicity was lost at irradiances above 20 μmol m−2 s−1. The growth and mitotic rhythms seem to be driven in parallel by circadian rhythmicity, and the details of growth kinetics must be due mainly to the growth behaviour of non-dividing cells. This was inferred from the finding that individual cells continued to grow from one cell division to the next, with generation times of 2–6 days. Transfer from continuous light to 12[ratio ]12 h light[ratio ]dark synchronized the free-running growth rhythm, with a high growth peak appearing every 24 h at the start of the light phase and an increase in growth rate during the dark phase. The ascending portion of the free-running growth curve was thus shifted into the night phase of the diurnal regime and the descending portion into the light phase. This behaviour of decreasing growth activity after the morning hours, previously found in a brown and a green marine macroalga, ensures that cell activity is available primarily for photosynthesis during the day.

Based on light and electron microscopical investigations, a new genus Craspedostauros is described for a group of marine biraphid diatoms previously placed in Stauroneis Ehrenberg. The genus Stauronella Mereschkowsky had been erected for one of these species, Amphiprora constricta sensu W. Smith, but Mereschkowsky's name cannot be used for nomenclatural reasons. Craspedostauros species can be recognized by the possession of cribrate areolae, a stauros that is usually narrower than the fascia, many girdle bands with double rows of cribrate areolae and two chloroplasts, fore and aft of the central cytoplasm, each with a central pyrenoid. The genus shows similarities in its pore structure and chloroplast type and arrangement to Mastogloia Thwaites ex W. Smith and Aneumastus Mann & Stickle, suggesting that it is more closely related to these than to other naviculoid genera with a stauros, i.e. Stauroneis, Staurophora Mereschkowsky, Meuniera Silva and Haslea Simonsen. The stauros is a feature that probably arose a number of times. A description of the genus and its currently recognized members is given, with a key to their identification. Four new species are described, the types of which have been deposited in the Natural History Museum, London. The status of Stauronella constricta var. linearis Mereschkowsky remains unclear in the absence of any material from the Black Sea. Some marine stauroneid diatoms that do not belong in Craspedostauros are briefly discussed.

Small-subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU) sequences for 14 members of the rhodophyte order Acrochaetiales were used to generate phylogenetic trees to determine whether the Acrochaetiales is monophyletic and to assess the relationships of acrochaetioid algae to closely related taxa. Within the Acrochaetiales, two strongly supported groups are recognized: one group that includes, in addition to three other species, the type species of the genera Acrochaetium, Audouinella and Rhodochorton; and a second group that includes an unequivocal representative of Colaconema and nine additional species. The relationships of these groups with the Batrachospermales, Palmariales and Nemaliales were not resolved and the possibility that the Acrochaetiales is polyphyletic was not eliminated. Resolution of relationships for species within these groups was strong in only a few cases, with many of the phylogenetic issues at this level remaining equivocal. Our results do not position Camontagnea in the Acrochaetiales, as has recently been suggested, but strongly ally this genus to the family Rhodothamniellaceae of the Palmariales. The phylogenetic position of Rhododraparnaldia, an alga intermediate between the Acrochaetiales and Batrachospermales, remains unresolved. These molecular results provide a foundation for assessing the taxonomic significance of phenotypic characters (e.g. anatomy, life histories, morphology, phycoerythrin type and plastid details) variously considered taxonomically significant in the Acrochaetiales.

Morphometric analysis and phylogenetic analysis of sequences of the rbcL chloroplast gene (which codes for the large subunit of the ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase enzyme) and the nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene were carried out on 26 specimens of marine and freshwater Hildenbrandia from North America. Nineteen marine specimens were collected from Alaska to Costa Rica on the Pacific coast and from Newfoundland to Connecticut on the Atlantic coast. Seven freshwater samples were collected from Texas, Costa Rica, St Lucia and Puerto Rico. Three groups of samples were distinguished by morphometric analysis: one containing all freshwater samples (H. angolensis Welwitsch ex West et West), one consisting of a marine sample with parallel tetrasporangial divisions (H. occidentalis Setchell ex Gardner) and one group with non-parallel tetrasporangial divisions (H. rubra (Sommerfelt) Meneghini. These groupings were partially incongruent with those obtained by analyses of the molecular data. Parsimony and distance analyses of the rbcL gene resulted in trees in which Atlantic and Pacific clades were largely resolved. However, an Alaskan sample was included in the Atlantic group, which may indicate a trans-Arctic invasion event. The freshwater samples were paraphyletic for the rbcL gene, among the marine collections, which supports the concept of multiple invasions establishing the freshwater populations in North America. The 18S rRNA gene sequence data indicate that the freshwater samples are monophyletic with the exception of the unresolved position of the H. occidentalis sample. The freshwater samples form a monophyletic clade when multiple outgroups are used. The rbcL data appear to be mutationally saturated above approximately 17% divergence, which makes interpretation of phylogenetic signal among distant groups difficult. This may be a result of the asexual reproduction of the alga.

Contemporary phytoplankton and palaeolimnological studies were made of the algal response to acidification and liming in three lakes in Hälsingland, central Sweden (Njupfatet, Sjösjön, Djuptjärn). Surveys and experimental studies of the phytoplankton response to liming were undertaken at Njupfatet, together with an experiment designed to determine the possible role of lake sediments as an inoculum for any new species arriving in the water column. Liming had little quantitative or qualitative effect on the phytoplankton diversity at Njupfatet, but did result in the loss of the dominant contributor to algal biomass, Merismopedia tenuissima. None of the four new species recorded in the lake following liming was hatched from the sediment inoculum experiment. A freeze core from Njupfatet was dated by 210Pb and carbonaceous fly-ash particle profiles were also determined for Njupfatet and Sjösjön, which provided an approximate chronology for the latter lake. Diatom analyses were made of the three lakes and pH and dissolved organic carbon inferred using weighted averaging methodology. Njupfatet had no planktonic diatoms over the last 200–300 years, and was dominated by benthic diatoms, but the diatom-inferred pH suggests that the lake was acidified to pH < 5 prior to liming in 1989. Both Djuptjärn and Sjösjön were dominated by planktonic diatoms, and were acidifying from (c. 1970) prior to liming, Sjösjön from pH 6 to ∼ 5 and Djuptjärn from 6·5 to ∼ 5·5. These pH inferences suggest that at least some lakes in this region are susceptible to atmospheric acidification. The response of the diatoms to liming is discussed, in particular the rapid expansion at Njupfatet, of Cyclotella glomerata a diatom which was also present in Sjösjön for a period prior to acidification, and at other lakes in south-west Sweden. Possible reasons for the expansion of this small centric diatom are discussed.

The elemental composition of Ceratium hirundinella was determined in mixed phytoplankton samples collected over a 2-month period (late June to early September 1995). Electron probe X-ray microanalysis spectra of single cells routinely showed clear peaks of monovalent (Na, K) and divalent (Mg, Ca) cations, plus Si, P, S and Cl. Considerable variation in elemental concentrations occurred both within and between samples (20 cells). The overall ratio of monovalent to divalent cations was relatively constant at about 1.3. Intracellular concentrations of anions/cations and electronegative/electropositive elements were significantly correlated in most samples, suggesting a controlled internal balance of these ionic groups. Correlation analysis of elemental concentrations revealed clear patterns of statistical association within individual samples, with significant positive correlations between particular pairs of elements (Mg–P, K–Cl and K–P). Some pairs of highly correlated elements (particularly Mg–P) occurred in defined ratios throughout the samples, while others (e.g. K–Cl, Na–Mg) were variable. Factor analysis showed that elemental associations were determined by two Principal Factors in most samples, possibly related to insoluble and soluble components of cells. Decrease in the level of available P in lake water was associated with a sharp decrease in the intracellular P concentration and the concentration of other correlated elements. The estimated C/P ratio markedly differed from the classical (Redfield) value at times of low P availability. The concentration of P in cells of Ceratium was approximately 104 times greater than in the surrounding water medium (total P) compared with values of 102–103 for K.

A Crypthecodinium cohnii-like dinoflagellate was found to prey on the unicellular red alga Porphyridium sp. The cytoplasm of the prey is ingested by myzocytosis within 10–30 s, and the contents of up to 20 Porphyridium cells can be taken up by one dinoflagellate. The feeding tube is retracted after each uptake process. Cytochalasin D disturbs the suction and the retraction of the feeding tube. Feeding behaviour depends on the light–dark regime: the dinoflagellates prey preferentially in the dark period and finish the trophic phase at the beginning of the light period. They then assemble and encyst, and digestion takes place in the light period. Cell division is restricted to the encysted stage. At the end of the light period excystment takes place, combined with defecation. Isogamy as well as anisogamy and nuclear cyclosis were observed. The trophonts have very thin thecal plates and a microtubular basket with two kinds of elongate vesicles. The microtubules of the tubular basket are also found in young cysts, formed after the end of the feeding period. The fine structure of the digestion vacuoles and of the faecal bodies is described.

Nutrient manipulation experiments were conducted on a natural planktonic community in outdoor mesocosms. Inorganic nitrogen (N) and silicon (Si) were added to achieve N[ratio ]Si ratios of 1[ratio ]1 and 4[ratio ]1. Total particulate carbon (PC) biomass of the microbial assemblage was determined by elemental analysis. Cell volume measurements by microscope on individual components of the community (bacteria, diatoms, photosynthetic nanoflagellates, heterotrophic nanoflagellates, dinoflagellates and ciliates) were also made. We applied published C[ratio ]volume relationships to determine the volume estimated C content (CBV) of these microbial groups and hence of the total assemblage. The total CBV and total PC were compared to test the applicability of C[ratio ]volume relationships under different nutrient regimes both before and after nutrient exhaustion. For initial N[ratio ]Si ratios of 1[ratio ]1, prior to nutrient exhaustion, the relationship between CBV and PC was linear with a gradient of approximately 1, (0.99±0.06), indicating that the published C[ratio ]volume relationships accurately predicted the C content of the microbial assemblage. For N[ratio ]Si ratios of 4[ratio ]1, a linear relationship was again evident between CBV and PC (slope: 1.36±0.08). However, statistical comparison using a general linear model indicated that the gradient of this relationship differed significantly from that when the N[ratio ]Si ratio was 1[ratio ]1, and hence CBV overestimated elemental C. For both N[ratio ]Si ratios, subsequent to nutrient exhaustion (N or Si), and hence when the diatom fraction of the microbial assemblage was in yield-limited post-exponential phase, the two measures of biomass were not well correlated. This indicated that measured cytoplasmic cell volume was a poor indicator of C biomass within the microbial assemblage in nutrient-deplete conditions.

Distribution and phenology of some filamentous species of Rhodomelaceae in the low littoral and shallow sublittoral zones of an exposed, western Mediterranean rocky shore were studied for 1 year. The spatial distribution of many species shows a pronounced small-scale (metres or tens of metres) variability. Boergeseniella fruticulosa was most abundant in spring and fertile (tetrasporangia only) in spring and summer. Polysiphonia flocculosa was most abundant in spring and summer and reproductive throughout the year. Polysiphonia opaca was most abundant in summer and fertile in spring–summer. Maximal vegetative development and reproduction of Lophosiphonia cristata were observed in summer; conversely, Polysiphonia ceramiaeformis and Polysiphonia subulata were best developed and mostly reproductive in winter and spring. Womersleyella setacea was the least abundant of the studied species and apparently reproduced only by vegetative growth and fragmentation. The reproductive phenology of the species investigated is generally in agreement with reports for other Mediterranean regions. The life history traits of most species are typical of seaweeds in which environmental factors directly govern the onset of the main activities of the organism by meeting the primary physiological needs (‘season responders’).

The phosphate uptake behaviour of phytoplankton communities in two eutrophic Uruguayan lakes has been studied using [32p]phosphate. In order to measure net incorporation of this tracer, lake samples were prelabelled with successive pulses of radioactive phosphate prior to the uptake experiments proper. The data were analysed using a proportional flow-force relationship which allows the evaluation of two characteristic parameters: a conductivity coefficient LP that here reflects the overall activity of the uptake systems of the community, and a threshold concentration [Pe]A at which net incorporation of phosphate ceases for energetic reasons. Between December 1997 and July 1998 in Lago Rodo phosphate supply by inflowing groundwater was periodically interrupted resulting in distinct states of phosphate deficiency. This showed that the phytoplankton responded to alterations in the phosphorus status of the lake by characteristic changes in LP and [Pe]A. The uptake behaviour of the phytoplankton community thus obeyed the linear flow-force relationship over a wide concentration range, in contrast to expectations of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. The observed uptake characteristics exhibited by multi-species phytoplankton ensembles are discussed with respect to a possible coherent behaviour of the constituents of these communities.

The ultrastructural changes taking place in Dunaliella bioculata after chronic exposure to a sodium chloride-induced stress were examined. Hyperosmotic shock was induced by raising the sodium chloride concentration of the culture medium from 0·3 to 1·3 M, which affected a number of cellular organelles during the initial stages of the stress period, i.e. 24, 48 and 72 h. Changes in whole-cell volume were recorded, as well as alterations in the size of the following components: starch grains and sheath, lipid and plastoglobuli, chloroplast, pyrenoid, nucleus, mitochondria, cytoplasm, Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum. Cells were examined using transmission electron microscopy and changes to their fine structure quantified via image analysis of the electron micrographs. The image analysis program was designed to measure various geometric parameters for all the cell components within individual algal cells. Quantitative image analysis of cells subjected to a chronic salt stress revealed marked increases in the cross-sectional areas of the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum. The enhanced production of the Golgi apparatus within the algal cells was thought to be the direct result of a salt-stress-induced endoplasmic reticulum production within the cells. The increase in the endoplasmic reticulum was manifested as extensive networks of cortical endoplasmic reticulum. It is suggested that the endoplasmic reticulum serves both physiological and structural roles during chronic salt stress by providing the driving force behind increased synthetic/Golgi apparatus activities of the cells, and by providing a type of ‘cellular scaffolding’ to limit the degree of cell contraction in the face of long-term salt stress.

The first spindle formation in karyogamy-blocked zygotes in the isogamous brown alga Scytosiphon lomentaria was studied by electron and immunofluorescence microscopy using anti-centrin and anti-β-tubulin antibodies. Zygotes blocked in karyogamy by incubation at high temperature (22 °C) were compared with normal zygotes incubated at 14 °C. In normal zygotes, after the disappearance of female gamete centrioles, centrioles from the male gamete duplicated and migrated to both poles in the metaphase, and a bipolar spindle was formed. The nuclear envelope was almost intact except at the poles. In karyogamy-blocked zygotes of S. lomentaria, both DNA synthesis and chromosomal condensation occurred in the male and female nuclei. A bipolar mitotic spindle with a pair of centrioles at each of two poles could be observed in the male nucleus, but not in the female nucleus. In some cases, after a pair of centrioles derived from the male gamete duplicated and separated, one of the two pairs migrated towards the female nucleus. In this case, a monopolar spindle was formed independently in each of the female and male nuclei. In addition to the monopolar spindle, a bipolar spindle was formed lying across the unfused male and female nuclei. Male and female chromosomes were intermixed and some of them were incorporated into the spindle. After cytokinesis of the normal and karyogamy-blocked zygotes, two daughter cells, each with one nucleus and one chloroplast, were formed.

Morphology, sexual reproduction and phylogeny of a colonial green alga collected from Germany were studied in culture. Light and electron microscopy of the gelatinous (extracellular) matrix of vegetative colonies, the absence of obligately somatic cells, and the anisogamous sexual reproduction with sperm packets in this alga indicated that it is assignable to the genus Eudorina. This German alga was similar to E. elegans Ehrenberg in its multiple pyrenoids of nearly identical size and almost identical sized vegetative cells in the colony, but differed from it in having a prominent tubular structure (flagellar sheath) surrounding each flagellum in the gelatinous matrix of the vegetative colonies. Sexual reproduction was homothallic and dioecious. On the other hand, the vegetative morphology agreed well with that of Pandorina minodii Chodat with regard to multiple pyrenoids and the prominent flagellar sheaths. Thus, a new combination, Eudorina minodii (Chodat) Nozaki et Krienitz, is proposed. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of the rbcL-atpB gene sequences from the colonial Volvocales resolved that E. minodii and several heterothallic strains of E. elegans constituted a robust clade. Therefore, prominent flagellar sheaths and homothallic sexual reproduction in E. minodii may be derived characters that evolved recently within the clade.

After 60 years of receiving treated sewage effluent from the city of Lahti, Lake Vesijärvi had become very eutrophic. Diversion of the effluent in 1976 resulted in a slow recovery of the water quality. In 1989–93, biomanipulation removed 380 kg of coarse fish per hectare from Enonselkä, the most polluted basin of the lake. Since then cyanobacterial blooms have decreased and water transparency has increased. Paleolimnological analysis of deep water sediments was used to reconstruct the changes in the diatom community, with varved sediment structure providing a year-by-year chronology. During the biomanipulation period the following diatom species increased in Enonselkä: Asterionella formosa, Fragilaria crotonensis, Stephanodiscus heterostylus and Tabellaria spp. In contrast, diatom species commonly considered to be indicators of eutrophication, such as Aulacoseira islandica, Diatoma elongatum and Stephanodiscus parvus, have decreased since the end of the 1980s reflecting the recovery of the Enonselkä basin. The changes in the diatom plankton recorded in the less polluted basin of Laitialanselkä were much less marked than those recorded from the sediments of the Enonselkä basin. In 1990 a diatom species, Actinocyclus normanii f. subsalsa, appeared for the first time in Lake Vesijärvi and since then it has been one of the dominant diatoms in the plankton of the Enonselkä basin. Two years later it was also present in small numbers in the plankton of Laitialanselkä, the least polluted basin of the lake. The appearance of A. normanii f. subsalsa was concomitant with the dredging of the boat harbour of Lahti city in the late summer of 1990. It was therefore apparently not directly affected by biomanipulation but benefited indirectly from the collapse of cyanobacterial populations that led to improved light and nutrient availability in the water column.

Phytoplankton studies in the North Atlantic have revealed coccoliths of Neosphaera coccolithomorpha and Ceratolithus cristatus occurring on the same cell. This may indicate that each of these species represents a stage of one coccolithophorid life cycle, in which each phase possesses a different heterococcolith type. However, definitive evidence for this is lacking.

The chemical composition, biosynthesis and ultrastructural organization of the cell wall of cultures of Koliella antarctica (Klebsormidiales, Chlorophyta), a green microalga obtained from samples of sea water taken near the Italian Station of Terra Nova (Ross Sea) during the austral summer 1989–1990, have been studied. Purified cell walls of the microalga were sequentially treated with chemicals which, in higher plants, solubilize matrix polysaccharides (pectins and hemicelluloses) and leave an insoluble residue considered to be α-cellulose. CDTA plus Na2CO3- and KOH-solubilized polysaccharides were made up of glucosyl residues (more than 90 mol%), as well as some minor sugars (mannose and rhamnose). Linkage analysis and enzymic hydrolysis of the matrix polysaccharides indicated the presence of β-1,4-linked glucans with minor amounts of other uncharacterized polysaccharides. The insoluble residue was composed of a small amount of crystalline α-cellulose associated with mannan or glucomannan chains. The biosynthesis of cell wall polysaccharides was studied by incubating the microalgae in the presence of D-[U-14C]glucose or myo-[U-14C]inositol. The radioactive glycosyl residues incorporated into the polysaccharides solubilized from purified cell walls of the cultured microalga corresponded to those detected in the chemical analysis of the cell wall. The myo-inositol oxidation pathway was demonstrated to be functional in the microalga. Cell wall ultrastructural observations showed a loose network of cellulose microfibrils in an extended matrix.

Phenotypic variation of Fucus spiralis was examined in terms of morphology and chemical composition, as determined by pyrolysis mass spectrometry (PyMS). After discriminant analysis both techniques revealed the existence of two morphotypes which were subsequently designated as F. spiralis and F. spiralis forma nanus. The nanus plants differed from the nominate spiralis in that they were shorter, narrower and had fewer branches, but had more units of growth from a single holdfast. F. spiralis f. nanus was consistently higher on the shore than F. spiralis, but the two morphotypes overlapped in terms of shore exposure level. We suggest that the formae exist within a mosaic of stable phenotypes representing populations specifically adapted to the local environment. PyMS data were in agreement with morphological descriptions showing that gross morphology can be correlated with chemical composition.

Alaria (Alariaceae, Phaeophyceae) is a common genus of kelps in the northern hemisphere. Fourteen species are currently recognized, of which three, Alaria esculenta (L.) Greville, A. pylaii (Bory de Saint-Vincent) Greville and A. grandifolia J. Agardh, are reported for the cold-temperate North Atlantic Ocean. Alaria esculenta, the type species described originally from the North Atlantic, exhibits a range of biogeographically correlated morphotypes suggesting the possibility of multiple species, subspecies or hybrids. In Ireland we discovered an A. esculenta population with unusually long stipes resembling the type specimen of A. grandifolia described from Spitsbergen by J. Agardh in 1872. These and other plants of A. esculenta from Ireland were compared with plants from Spitsbergen fitting the description of A. grandifolia, using sexual hybridization, relative growth rate measurements and DNA sequence comparisons. Complete interfertility was observed between the different isolates. Three nucleotide substitutions (0·37 %) were found in the rbcL and RuBisCo spacer of A. grandifolia, and two in the partial 18S rRNA gene and ITS1 sequences. The relative growth rate at 10 °C of an Irish self-cross was significantly lower than those of all the other crosses. Comparison of RuBisCo spacer sequences of the Spitsbergen A. grandifolia and six A. esculenta isolates showed that A. grandifolia was identical to A. esculenta from Halifax, Canada. The partial 18S rRNA gene and ITS1 sequence of A. grandifolia was identical to that of A. praelonga from Japan and differed by a single substitution from A. esculenta from Scotland and by two nucleotide substitutions from the isolate from Ireland. The intraspecific differences in A. esculenta, together with the hybridization and morphometric results, suggest that A. grandifolia is to be considered conspecific with A. esculenta, and that A. grandifolia is most probably a large deep-water morphological variant, subspecies or ecotype of A. esculenta.

A novel member of the Calyptrosphaeraceae surrounded by a hyaline sheath, with only one chloroplast and without an emergent haptonema, is tentatively described as a species of Calyptrosphaera Lohmann. It has an interrupted body to its single pyrenoid and a unique microtubular root complement with only one crystalline root (CR) nucleating on root 2 (R2). At preprophase it produces a CR1, lending support to the idea that these crystalline roots contribute to the mitotic spindle. It shares numerous ultrastructural traits with the heterococcolithophorid Cruciplacolithus neohelis but, although it is tempting to consider it a haploid phase of this organism, is distinct from it.

A new benthic marine dinoflagellate, Bysmatrum granulosum Ten-Hage, Turquet, Quod & Couté, sp. nov., was obtained from sediment and coral samples from sites of La Réunion Island (SW Indian Ocean). This new species is described and illustrated by light and scanning electron micrographs. Cells are 40–50 μm long and 40–46 μm wide. The epitheca is conical and smaller than the hypotheca, which is trapezoidal with convex sides. Plate tabulation is typical for the genus (P0, X, 4′, 3a, 7′′, 6c, 5s, 5′′′, 2′′′′); epithecal plates 3′ and 4′′ separate the intercalary plates 2a and 3a. Thecal plates are perforated by pores and covered by both small and minute wart-like projections, linearly arranged, radiating from the apical pore. This new species differs from the three others of the genus Bysmatrum in the following characters: cell shape and size, size of the apical pore complex and features of thecal plates (plate shapes and ornamentations).