Charophytes in warm springs on Svalbard (Spitsbergen): DNA barcoding identifies Chara aspera and Chara canescens with unusual morphological traits

ABSTRACT

The Troll springs are warm springs on Svalbard (Spitsbergen). Charophytes were collected in the years 1910, 1912, 1958, 1992/1993, and 2018. However, since the Chara samples showed unusual morphological traits, there were doubts with respect to species identity. We here use DNA barcoding to show that there occur two Chara species in the Troll springs: Chara aspera and C. canescens.

KEYWORDS:

• Svalbard
• Spitsbergen
• Chara
• matK
• barcoding

Acknowledgments

We thank Gunhild Lutnæs, Senior Adviser Nature Management (The Governor of Svalbard), who collected the examined charophytes in 2018, and the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund, project 17/68, for economical support. We gratefully acknowledge Associate Professor Einar Timdal (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo) for help with nomenclature, and Thomas Gregor for helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. Barcoding of some other Chara taxa was funded by the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund [17/68].

Notes on contributors

Anders Langangen

Anders Langangen is cand.real. from the University of Oslo with a thesis on Norwegian charophytes, and a retired lecturer from Oslo Cathedral school. He has worked with freshwater algae and specially with charophytes since 1968. Contribution: study design, manuscript writing.

Andreas Ballot

Andreas Ballot is a senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research. He is mainly interested in the ecology and phylogeny of phytoplankton and macrophytes. Contribution: genetic and phylogenetic analyses, manuscript writing.

Petra Nowak

Petra Nowak is a marine biologist at the University of Rostock specializing in the biodiversity and evolution of macroalgae. Besides the taxonomical aspect, she is interested in molecular and morphological approaches towards understanding the acclimation and adaptation processes of macroalgae. Contribution: sequencing, manuscript writing.

Susanne C. Schneider

Susanne C. Schneider is a senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, and adjunct professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She is mainly interested in the ecology of macrophytes and benthic algae. Contribution: manuscript writing.