Algae are increasingly being used in human affairs. Alongside with higher volumes, threats for seaweed natural reservoirs and seaweed farming are starting to appear. Epidemics seems a key complication, similar to agriculture and animal aquaculture. However, phycopathologies are much more under documented, and future diseases are currently difficult to foresee. Thus, efforts should be stressed on biodiversity of algal pathogens and algal defense strategies against diseases. This thesis is divided in two parts: the first section comprises Chapters Two and Three, which describe novel algal pathosystems from cell biology and molecular phylogeny perspectives. Chapter Two characterizes the obligate parasite Maullinia braseltonii sp. nov., a phytomyxid infecting Durvillaea (bull kelp) in the Southern hemisphere. Chapter Three reports new records, cell plasticity and epidemiology of the endophyte Laminariocolax aecidioides infecting Lessonia berteroana (huiro negro) in northern Chile. The two hosts aforementioned have commercial importance, and remarkable roles in coastal ecology in temperate marine habitats in the Southern hemisphere. Chapters Four, Five and Six correspond to a second section and describe cellular processes in novel brown algal pathosystems, related with infection and immunity responses. In Chapter Four, using the Macrocystis/Anisolpidium as a model, microscopy evidence indicate that autophagy is a key cellular process used either to help starving pathogen syncytia to survive (controlled) or to kill themselves (abortive), probably induced by the host. Likewise, host autophagy was also widely observed and may be involved in the neutralization of early-stage oomycetes or nutrient recycling to mount defences. Chapter Five shows the results on a screening of ca. 40 strains from different brown algal orders, to phenotype cellular defense markers against two phylogenetic distant pathogens (Anisolpidium ectocarpii and Maullinia ectocarpii). Overall, responses such as cell wall re-arrangements, programmed cell death, autophagy and ROS accumulation were confirmed to be at least partially conserved across different Phaeophycean lineages. Chapter 6 reports a boost on the phlorotannin metabolism in the model brown alga Ectocarpus (e.g. physode formation and polyketide synthase gene expression) after pathogen challenging, suggesting a similar protective role of this molecule as against grazers and deleterious light regimes. Phlorotannins role however needs to be elucidated.

Following surveys of seaweeds in Oregon and the Caribbean, four algal species were selected for study on the basis of their crude extract biological activity or thin-layer chromatographic characteristics. Extracts were fractionated by normal phase chromatography, including high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Derivatives (methyl esters, acetates, and benzoates) of natural products were produced to facilitate isolation or structure elucidation efforts. Structure proofs utilized high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, including hetero- and homo-nuclear two-dimensional experiments. Infrared and ultraviolet spectra, optical rotations, mass spectra, and circular dichroic spectroscopy were also employed. The Puerto Rican red alga Murrayella periclados was found to contain (12S)-hydroxyeicosapentaenoic and (12S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids, two mammalian autacoids for which new biological activities are reported. Further eicosanoid metabolism was demonstrated by the isolation of (6E)-leukotriene B₄ and two diastereomers each of the insulin-release mediators hepoxilin B₃ and B₄. The Oregon green alga Acrosiphonia coalita also was found to contain novel fatty acid-derived substances. Some of these contain an unprecedented structural feature, a conjugated trienal in which the aldehyde moiety branches off from the fatty acid chain. Exciton chirality studies of benzoate derivatives indicate that the alga introduces oxygenation in the 9R, 13S, and 16S positions on precursor polyunsaturated fatty acid chains. The Oregon red alga Laurencia spectabilis was found to produce an equilibrium mixture of (±)-2-hydroxy-2-methyldihydrofuran-3-one and 5-hydroxy- 2,3-pentanedione, which dimerizes on silica gel to produce spiro-bis-pinnaketal, a compound which was previously reported from L. pinnatifida and is probably an artifact of isolation. The Oregon red alga Prionitis lanceolata displays high levels of apparent tryptophan metabolism. Never before isolated from a plant or marine source, 3- (hydroxyacetyl)indole, active at 10⁻¹⁰ M in the lettuce-seedling root elongation assay, was isolated in 0.07% yield along with indole-3-carboxaldehyde (0.5%) and indole-3-carboxylate (0.04% ). / Graduation date: 1992

Macroalgae are a dominant feature of many rocky intertidal habitats worldwide. An understanding of the processes affecting their growth and survival, especially at early life history stages, is therefore important to an understanding of the structure of rocky intertidal communities. This thesis examines the role that the sediment environment has on habitat-dominating fucoid algae and intertidal community structure. Measurements of sediment flux showed considerable spatial and seasonal variation, while the benthic sediment environment remained relatively stable. Experimental disturbances over 13 months, showed two distinct effects. First, direct effects of sedimentation favoured ephemeral algae and also those with tough thalli. Secondary to this was an alteration of species interactions due to the shifts in community composition. The effect sedimentation has on habitat dominating fucoid algae was also examined with laboratory experiments and outplants of cultured algae. The presence of sediment had a negative effect on the ability of Cystophora torulosa and Hormosira banksii zygotes to attach to the substratum, with even sparse coverings of sediment preventing at least 37% of zygotes attaching to the substratum, and almost a complete recruitment failure with dense coverings of both sand and silt. Sediment and disturbance of turfing communities also influenced early post-settlement survival especially of C. torulosa. Manipulations of the sediment load, nutrient levels and grazer abundance showed the resilience of rocky intertidal communities to the predicted increase in nutrient leaves in coastal waters due to increases anthropogenic intrusion. Most research into the effects of sedimentation have been observational studies and much of the experimental work has been carried out subtidally. My experiments have extended research into the intertidal zone, finding that if sedimentation increases as predicted there will be a consequential loss of habitat dominating fucoid algae and its replacement with sediment tolerant species

Macroalgae are a dominant feature of many rocky intertidal habitats worldwide. An understanding of the processes affecting their growth and survival, especially at early life history stages, is therefore important to an understanding of the structure of rocky intertidal communities. This thesis examines the role that the sediment environment has on habitat-dominating fucoid algae and intertidal community structure. Measurements of sediment flux showed considerable spatial and seasonal variation, while the benthic sediment environment remained relatively stable. Experimental disturbances over 13 months, showed two distinct effects. First, direct effects of sedimentation favoured ephemeral algae and also those with tough thalli. Secondary to this was an alteration of species interactions due to the shifts in community composition. The effect sedimentation has on habitat dominating fucoid algae was also examined with laboratory experiments and outplants of cultured algae. The presence of sediment had a negative effect on the ability of Cystophora torulosa and Hormosira banksii zygotes to attach to the substratum, with even sparse coverings of sediment preventing at least 37% of zygotes attaching to the substratum, and almost a complete recruitment failure with dense coverings of both sand and silt. Sediment and disturbance of turfing communities also influenced early post-settlement survival especially of C. torulosa. Manipulations of the sediment load, nutrient levels and grazer abundance showed the resilience of rocky intertidal communities to the predicted increase in nutrient leaves in coastal waters due to increases anthropogenic intrusion. Most research into the effects of sedimentation have been observational studies and much of the experimental work has been carried out subtidally. My experiments have extended research into the intertidal zone, finding that if sedimentation increases as predicted there will be a consequential loss of habitat dominating fucoid algae and its replacement with sediment tolerant species

Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-46). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (October 20, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 40-47)

The term "interaction" in evolutionary biology and ecology describes the relationships among variables in two classes of causal models. In the first, "interaction" refers to the influence of a single putatively causal variable on a variable of interest. In the second class of models, the term applies when a third variable mediates the relationship between two variables in the first class of models. The development of multi-factor causal models in evolutionary biology and ecology represents a stage in the construction of theory that usually follows from complexities discovered in single-factor analyses. In this thesis, I present three cases that illustrate how results of simple single-factor models in the population genetics and community ecology of seaweeds may be affected by incorporation of a second causal factor. In Chapter II, we consider how the effect of natural selection on genetic variability in seaweeds and other plants may be mediated by life history variation. Many seaweeds have haplodiplontic life histories in which haploid and diploid stages alternate. Our theoretical analysis and review of the electrophoretic literature show that the level of genetic polymorphism in haplodiplonts is not necessarily reduced relative to that in diploids. In Chapter III, I take an experimental approach to understanding how herbivory may mediate the effect of desiccation on the upper intertidal limit of a red alga, Iridaea cornucopiae. Iridaea appears to be grazer-limited in dry, but grazer-dependent in moist environments, suggesting that a third factor may mediate the interaction of desiccation and herbivory. Finally, in Chapter IV, we consider research strategies for studying how the outcome of competitive interactions is affected by seaweed traits. Some of the problems that arise in applying simple models of competition to plants suggest the need for theory that explicitly incorporates plant traits in two- (or more) factor models of interspecific competition. In particular, we note that unique traits of seaweeds require development of new approaches to understanding competition. Single-factor causal models represent an indispensable stage in the development of evolutionary and ecological theory. Properly conceived theoretical and empirical studies focus attention on the assumptions under which such models will hold and suggest lines of inquiry that ultimately lead to the integration of additional causal factors in conceptual models of natural processes. Identifying the circumstances under which simple models will suffice remains one of the most important challenges of evolutionary and ecological scholarship. / Graduation date: 1993

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : 88-94).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (Leaves: 13-15)

Thesis (D.Sc.) -- University of Adelaide, 1959. / "Adelaide, Dec. 1959." Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic format.