Physiology, ultrastructure and habitat of the ice algaMesotaenium berggrenii(Zygnemaphyceae, Chlorophyta) from glaciers in the European Alps

• DOI: 10.2216/08-13.1
• Publication Date: 2009-07-02T22:00:25Z
• Authors: Daniel Remias; Andreas Holzinger; Cornelius Lütz
• Keywords: 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; 15. Life on land

Abstract Remias D., Holzinger A. and Lutz C. 2009. Physiology, ultrastructure and habitat of the ice alga Mesotaenium berggrenii (Zygnemaphyceae, Chlorophyta) from glaciers in the European Alps. Phycologia 48: 302–312. DOI: 10.2216/08-13.1. Mesotaenium berggrenii belongs to the few algae that have adapted to live on bare glacial surfaces. Although it is regarded as a cosmopolitan in alpine and polar regions, reports of occurrence are quite sparse. This is probably because of the inconspicuousness of their growing sites, where even mass accumulations only cause a greyish colouration of the white substrate. We characterise a community in the European Alps, including ecophysiological habitat parameters. The field samples consist of two size classes; the smaller one was recognised as M. berggrenii var. alaskana, which contains only one chloroplast per cell after cell division instead of two. This is the first report on the rediscovery of this variety since its description in 1942 and also the first work on it...