Studies on a deep sublittoral algal flora of the Ogasawara Islands, Japan

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25440225
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biodiversity/Systematics
• Research Institution: National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: KITAYAMA Taiju 独立行政法人国立科学博物館, 植物研究部, 研究主幹 (20270407)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 小笠原諸島 / 海藻相 / 深所性 / 藻類

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to uncover the marine deep sublittoral algal flora of the Ogasawara Islands, several investigations were carried out off Chichi-jima Island using dredge, resulted in collection of 28 species (6 species of Ulvophyceae, 12 species of Phaeophyceae and 10 of Rhodophyceae). Most of them are unknown species in the Japanese Archipelago: one species new to Japan (Discosporangium mesarthrocarpum), two new species (Aneurianna ogasawaraensis n. sp. and Zosteocarpus ogasawaraensis n. sp.) and 16 unknown species). In particular, it is significant that D. mesarthrocarpum, which is the most ancestral species, has a cosmopolitan distribution, and the two genera, Aneurianna and Zosteocarpus, have broad distributions in the South Pacific. This suggested that the marine deep sublittoral algal flora of the Ogasawara Isls. has few retlation to the Japanese Archipelago and thus the traditional division of marine algal flora of Japan is not applicable.

Free Research Field

海藻学