A quantitative study of the patterns of morphological variation within Hormosira banksii (Turner) Decaisne (Fucales: Phaeophyta) in south-eastern Australia

Abstract

Hormosira banksii shows a considerable degree of morphological variability throughout its range in south-eastern Australia, apparently in relation to the local habitat, and there have been several previous qualitative attempts to categorize this variation by recognizing ecoforms. From our quantitative morphometric analyses of plants from 21 sites covering 300 km of coastline in south-eastern Australia, using multiple discriminant function analysis based on seven vesicle characteristics (measuring size and shape), there is very little evidence of intergrading forms. The morphological variation is not multivariately continuous, as has been previously suggested, although each individual attribute does show more-or-less continuous variation, and the morphological variation is not a simple reflection of habitat but reflects more complex microhabitat relationships. The morphological forms that we recognize are multivariate, and thus all of the attributes need to be considered. In particular, volume (or surface area:volume ratio) is usually a very good discriminator between groups, indicating that both size and shape are important for defining the groups. We recognize two main phenotypically distinct groups, comprising plants from sheltered estuarine situations and those from exposed marine rock platforms. The vesicles of plants from the estuarine habitats are more-or-less spherical (length≈diameter), with a volume approximately 3–10 times that of vesicles from the marine plants; it is thus probable that the variation in the vesicle dimensions of these morphs can be linked to desiccation resistance. The estuarine and marine habitats are likely to be ecologically isolated from each other, and there is therefore unlikely to be a great deal of gene flow between these plants; if they are treated as separate species, then they would be H. banksii (Turner) Decaisne and H. sieberi (Bory) Decaisne, respectively. Three relatively distinct morphometric forms were also recognizable within the marine group, including plants from the bottom of rock pools; from rock pool edges and sublittoral regions; and from the surface of rock pools and exposed parts of the platforms. Two less distinctive morphometric forms were recognizable within the estuarine group, including plants from tidal flats and those from mangrove forests. The taxonomic status of these microhabitat forms remains uncertain.