The taxonomic position of Ruppia populations along the Cantabrian coast

High diversity of Ruppia meadows in saline ponds and lakes of the western Mediterranean

“…The diploid 2x = 20 was recorded in R. maritima populations in north western Spain (Aedo & Fernandez Casado, 1988) and Sicily (Marchioni Ortu, 1982) and in R. drepanensis in Central Spain (Cirujano, 1986). The tetraploid 2x = 40 was recorded in R. maritima from Central Spain (Cirujano, 1986) and R. maritima var.…”

“…drepanensis (Tineo) Symoens] on the Iberian peninsula, but they did not reach the attention at international level for monitoring and conservation purposes. Among these, we wish to mention morphological studies (Aedo & Fernandez Casado, 1988;Cirujano & Garcia-Murillo, 1990), cytotaxonomical investigations (Van Vierssen et al, 1981;Cirujano, 1986;Talavera et al, 1993) and finally autoecological and isozyme polymorphism studies (Triest & Symoens, 1991). Since the western Mediterranean may harbour African elements in its flora (Rivas-Martínez et al, 2003) and other submerged macrophytes such as Zannichellia also harbour a larger species diversity in the Iberian peninsula (Talavera et al, 1986;Triest & Vanhecke, 1991;Triest et al, 2007) we aimed to investigate the genetic diversity of Ruppia populations along a more than 1,000 km long transect of the western Mediterranean and several inland waterbodies of the Iberian Peninsula.…”

The genus Ruppia L. (Ruppiaceae) in the Mediterranean region: An overview

“…The high phenotypic plasticity that characterizes this genus has often led to taxonomic confusion (Van Vierssen et al, 1981;Hara, 1983;Aedo and Fernández Casado, 1988;Ito et al, 2010). Disagreement among specialists on the number of Ruppia taxa, has led to the proposition of a high number of species, most of which are probably morphotypes of R. maritima (Setchell, 1946;Richardson, 1980;Den Hartog, 1981;Kantrud, 1991;Zhao and Wu, 2008), a species with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution (De Oliveira et al, 1983;Orth and Moore, 1988;Malea et al, 2004;Short et al, 2007).…”

“…In the Mediterranean region, three species have been found: R. maritima, R. cirrhosa and R. drepanensis, the latter recognized as an inland ecotype of the SW Mediterranean or a variety, R. cirrhosa var. drepanensis (Tineo) Symoens (Van Vierssen et al, 1981;Cirujano, 1986;Aedo and Fernández Casado, 1988;Cirujano and García-Murillo, 1990;Triest and Symoens, 1991;Comín et al, 1993;Talavera et al, 1993;Triest and Sierens, 2009a,b, 2010. The morpho-anatomy of Ruppia species as well as the main morphological characteristics of Mediterranean species are reported in Appendix 1 and Table S1, respectively (see also Figs.…”

“…The cosmopolitan genus Ruppia L. (Ruppiaceae) inhabits a wide variety of shallow systems (coastal lagoons, continental brackish habitats or saltmarsh ponds), where it forms dense and often monospecific meadows that play a key role in the functioning of the ecosystem (Verhoeven, 1979;Calado and Duarte, 2000;Teixeira da Silva and Asmus, 2001;Menéndez, 2002;Malea et al, 2004;Den Hartog and Kuo 2006;Mannino and Sarà, 2006;Pergent et al, 2006;Rodrigues et al, 2009;Obrador and Pretus, 2012). Ruppia species are characterized by a simplified morphology that often shows high phenotypic plasticity, leading to taxonomic confusion (Van Vierssen et al, 1981;Hara, 1983;Aedo and Fernández Casado, 1988;Ito et al, 2010). Although the ecology, biomass, productivity and ecophysiology of Ruppia species have been widely investigated, the ecotypic and genotypic variation at population level remains only partly understood (Triest and Symoens, 1991;Green and Short, 2003;Den Hartog and Kuo 2006;Sierens, 2013, 2014).…”