The Maltese list of characeans includes Chara vulgaris of which the most commonly occurring variant is C. vulgaris var. longibracteata. A less common variant, C. vulgaris var. papillata, has been recorded for the first time locally in mats of Chara vulgaris examined from il-Qattara pool and Qawra (Dwejra, Gozo).peer-reviewe

Henwood, Jonathan

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Xjenza Online - Journal of The Malta Chamber of Scientistswww.xjenza.orgDoi: http://dx.medra.org/10.7423/XJENZA.2014.1.07Research ArticleA first record of Chara vulgaris var. papillata Wallroth. Ex A. Braun(Charales) in the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean)Jonathan Henwood11Sagh¯tar, Triq l-Irdum, Dingli, MaltaAbstract. The Maltese list of characeans includesChara vulgaris of which the most commonly occurringvariant is C. vulgaris var. longibracteata. A lesscommon variant, C. vulgaris var. papillata, has beenrecorded for the first time locally in mats of Charavulgaris examined from il-Qattara pool and Qawra(Dwejra, Gozo).Keywords Stoneworth - Chara vulgaris var. Papillata- il-Qattara.1 IntroductionNumerous freshwater wetlands found in the Malteseislands (ranging from small rockpools accumulating inkarst depressions to freshwater wetlands and artificialreservoirs) are commonly colonised by macroscopicCharales. Locally these are represented by the generaChara, Tolypella and Nitella. The following is the lo-cally occurring species list (Lanfranco, 1969; Lanfranco,2002):- Tolypella glomerata (Desvaux) von Leonhardi 1863- Tolypella nidifica (Muller) von Leonhardi 18571- Chara vulgaris Linnaeus 1753 sensu lato- Chara vulgaris var. longibracteata (Kutzing) Groveset Bullock-Webster= Chara vulgaris var. foetida A. Braun formasubinermis A. Braun= Chara foetida A. Braun forma subinermis A.Braun B longibracteata A. BraunCorrespondence to: J. Henwood (jonathan.henwood@gmail.com)c© 2014 Xjenza Online1This species is similar to T. glomerata, however possessinglarger gametangia (Bryant and Stewart, 2002). (Lanfranco, 2002)attributes all records of T. nidifica to T. glomerata due to probablemisidentification.- Chara vulgaris var. gymnophylla (A. Braun) Nyman= Chara gymnophylla A. Braun 1834- Chara globularis Linnaeus var. globularis f. globularisThuillier 1799= Chara globularis Thuillier 1799= Chara fragilis Desvaux- Nitella flexilis (Linnaeus) Agardh 18242The following brief notes deal with the discovery ofChara vulgaris var. papillata in the island of Gozo. Ma-terial collected has been deposited in the herbarium ofthe author.2 MethodsMaterial examined: Fresh material was collectedfrom shallow areas of il-Qattara pool (Dwejra, Gozo:36◦3′3.47′′N 14◦11′32.41′′E) in February 2005, wherematerial persisted until May. Material was also collectedfrom a watercourse in the Qawra area (36◦3′6.44′′N14◦11′31.78′′E) at the same time, where the alga per-sisted until April when the watercourse dried. Tokenspecimens collected from mats in the two locations wereexamined with the naked eye and under the stereomi-croscope at magnifications ranging from ×7 to ×30.Description of material: Thallus up to 50cm, greyish-green, highly encrusted. Cortex with a single secondaryrow between each primary row; papillate spine cells upto 1mm (visible with the naked eye) sticking out fromthe cortex. Cortex is aulocanthous.3 Discussion and ConclusionsC. vulgaris is a variable species and a number of de-scribed varieties occur (Bryant and Stewart, 2002). Thevarious forms may interchange over time both within the2This characeaen has never been observed after beingrecorded by (Gulia, 1877).A first record of Chara vulgaris var. papillata Wallroth... 50Figure 1: View of specimen habit (×7). Scale bar: 5mm.same population and within individuals. Different vari-eties may therefore represent ecomorphic expressions ofthe same species.Within all varieties, spine cells are deciduous, per-sisting toward the apex of the branch. In the identi-fied variety, the characteristic feature is the length ofthe spine cells (wider than the branches) which are alsoclearly deciduous (persisting only on the newer end ofthe stem). Spine cells have been variously describedas either lying within the groove formed by the primaryrows (Moore, 1986) or sticking out (Groves and Bullock-Webster, 1924), as is the case with the discovered spec-imens.Il-Qattara is a permanent freshwater pool first de-scribed by (Schembri et al., 1987) and consequently by(Anderson and Schembri, 1989). More recently it wasdescribed by (Gauci, 1996) and (Camilleri, 2006) as be-ing colonised by hydrophilic flora (including numerousalgae) and fauna. (Camilleri, 2006) notes that salin-ity varies gradually, from 0.26 during the wet seasonto 1.35 during the warm season, confirming its fresh-water characteristics. C. vulgaris var. papillata wasrecorded during the time of year where salinity rangedfrom 0.82 to 1.10. In contrast to il-Qattara pool, thewatercourse in the Qawra area is ephemeral and existsthrough overspill from il-Qattara pool and runoff fromFigure 2: Detail of stems (×10). Note spine cells and encrustation.Scale bar: 1mm.surrounding higher ground and from Wied Gh¯orof/WiedMerell, Wied Sufar and Wied il-Kbir (the latter alsodrains into il-Qattara pool). The watercourse desiccatesonce rain-induced runoff ceases. Therefore, it is evidentthat specimens in this area dry out due to lack of wateravailability. Conversely, the demise of specimens in il-Qattara pool may be attributed to a number of factors,of which gradual increases in salinity and temperaturemay play a role.In both the il-Qattara and Qawra sites, specimenshave been noted growing in dense mats within shallowwater, mixed with C. globularis, C. vulgaris var. longi-bracteata and Cladophora spp. This observation is con-cordant with the findings by (Camilleri, 2006) for themonth of May. The growth of mixed varieties of C. vul-garis within the same population is consistent with lit-erature and indicative of ecomorphosis within the pop-ulation. Extensive surveys of the pool and watercoursecarried out in March 2009 noted only the longibracteatavariety.The finding of the papillata variety, restricted to onelocation within the island of Gozo is of significance tothe Characean flora of the Maltese Islands. It may resultfrom ambient conditions which allow increased plastic-ity within the population of C. vulgaris when comparedwith populations of the same species in other areas.AcknowledgmentsThe author would like to acknowledge the help of MrEdwin Lanfranco.http://dx.medra.org/10.7423/XJENZA.2014.1.07 www.xjenza.orgA first record of Chara vulgaris var. papillata Wallroth... 51ReferencesAnderson E., Schembri P. (1989). Coastal zone surveyof the Maltese Islands report. Beltissebh¯: PlanningServices Division, Works Department.Bryant J., Stewart N. (2002). Phylum Chlorophyta, Or-der Charales. In John D., Whitton B., Brook A., edi-tors, The Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles:An Identification Guide to Freshwater and Terres-trial Algae. Cambridge University Press and TheNatural History Museum, Cambridge.Camilleri M. (2006). Ecology of the perennial freshwaterpool at il-Qattara. B.Sc Hons Dissertation, Universityof Malta.Gauci M. (1996). A survey of the natural and semi-natural freshwaters in Gozo.Groves J., Bullock-Webster G. (1924). The BritishCharophyta Vol. 2, Characeae. The Ray Society, Lon-don.Gulia G. (1877). Maltese Botany in Il Barth (1871-1877).Lanfranco E. (1969). A revised check-list of Maltese al-gae. National Press, Washington.Lanfranco E. (2002). A contribution to the freshwa-ter macroalgal flora of the Maltese Islands. CentralMeditterranean Naturalist, 3(4), 203–206.Moore J. (1986). Charophytes of Great Britain and Ire-land. B.S.B.I.http://dx.medra.org/10.7423/XJENZA.2014.1.07 www.xjenza.org

A contribution to the freshwater macroalgal flora of the Maltese Islands.

A revised check-list of Maltese algae.

A survey of the natural and seminatural freshwaters in Gozo.

Coastal zone survey of the Maltese Islands report. Beltissebh¯: Planning Services Division, Works Department.

Ecology of the perennial freshwater pool at il-Qattara. B.Sc Hons Dissertation,

Phylum Chlorophyta, Order Charales. In

A first record of Chara vulgaris var. papillata Wallroth. Ex A. Braun (Charales) in the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean)

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A first record of Chara vulgaris var. papillata Wallroth. Ex A. Braun (Charales) in the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean)

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