SUMMARY Conspecific populations with different life‐cycle seasonality, particularly of their reproductive season, have been reported for many seaweed species. However, the number of genetic analyses of such seasonal populations is limited. Herein, based on the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 3 gene (cox3) haplotype, we evaluated the genetic diversity of winter (January–March) and spring (April–June) fertile populations of the brown alga Sargassum horneri in Sado Island, Japan. Obviously, dominant cox3 haplotypes were different between seasons (even at a single site), and the N ST values indicated the presence of a strong genetic differentiation between the two seasonal populations. AMOVA analyses confirmed that most of the genetic diversity was between seasons rather than between regions. Herein, the possibility of allochronic isolation is discussed. Considering the phylogeny of the mitochondrial cox3 DNA sequence, autumn or winter seasonal populations such as those in this investigation have evolved independently at least twice in the species. The present study shows that a shift in breeding season could be expected to conserve the genetic diversity of S. horneri in a certain region.

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Marked seasonality, especially in sexual reproduction, is common among seaweed species along temperate coasts and increases the possibility of successful fertilization in outcrossing species. A phenological shift in reproductive seasons, therefore, could be an effective isolation barrier between conspecific seasonal populations, although its power has not been verified in algae. Sargassum horneri, a major component of seaweed beds along the temperate coast of Japan, is known for variability in its reproductive phenology. To understand the significance of phenological shift as an isolation barrier in seaweed species, phenological investigations of S. horneri seasonal populations on the Sea of Japan coast of central Honshu, Japan, were combined with Bayesian cluster analysis based on a nuclear simple sequence repeat genotype. Results from these analyses concordantly suggest a genetic differentiation between the seasonal populations, although almost 20% of field-collected plants were estimated to be hybrids or have a hybrid origin based on results of Bayesian cluster analyses using experimental hybrids. A collapse of seasonal isolation was also detected at the site of the field investigation, and a high percentage of putative hybrids in the following generation at the site (41%) suggested significant seasonal isolation in the differentiation observed in this study.

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