JENIS-JENIS TUMBUHAN PAKU DI PULAU RANGSANG, KEPULAUAN MERANTI, RIAU DAN KARAKTERISTIK MORFOLOGI-PALINOLOGI

Abstrak: Pulau Rangsang meupakan salah satu pulau utama di Kabupaten Kepulauan Meranti, Provinsi Riau yang mempunyai keunikan habitat bagi berbagai jenis flora termasuk golongan tumbuhan paku. Namun data mengenai keanekaragaman flora paku di pulau ini belum pernah dilaporkan sebelumnya. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menginventarisasi jenis-jenis tumbuhan paku di Pulau Rangsang serta mengkarakterisasi morfologi dan sporanya. Pengambilan sampel dilakukan dengan metode eksplorasi sedangkan pembuatan preparat spora dengan metode asetolisis dan tanpa asetolisis. Sebanyak 23 jenis tumbuhan paku telah di identifikasi di lokasi kajian, yang tergolong dalam 8 Famili, 3 Ordo dan 1 Divisi Polypodiophyta. Tipe dasar spora yang ditemukan adalah monolete, dan trilete, dengan laesura monosulkat dan trikomonosulkat. Tipe spora berdasarkan ukuran yang ditemukan adalah ukuran spora medium dan spora besar.Kata Kunci: Morfologi, kawasan pesisir, paku laut, palinologi, sporaAbstract: Rangsang Island is one of main island of Kepulauan Meranti, Riau Province that poses a uniqe habitat for flora including ferns. However, the data of fern diversity from this island had not been reported. The aim of this study were to inventory ferns from Rangsang Island and to characterize their morphologies and spore characteristics. Sample collection was carried out using exploration method, while spore preparation used acetolysis and non acetolysis method. A total of 23 fern species are identified from the study sites. They belong to 8 families, 3 orders from Division Polypodiophyta. Basic spore type observed in this study are monolete and trilete, with monosulcate and trichomonosulcate laesura. Spore types based on its size found in this study are medium and large spore.Keywords: coastal area, morphology, palynology, sea fern, spore

INVENTARISASI DAN KAJIAN PALINOLOGI JENIS-JENIS TUMBUHAN PAKU (PTERODOFITA) EPIFIT DI KAWASAN UNIVERSITAS RIAU, PROVINSI RIAU

Abstrak : Tumbuhan paku (Pteridofita) epifit banyak di jumpai di kawasan Universitas Riau. Karakteristik spora pada tumbuhn apaku memegang peranan penting dalam kajian taksonomi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi jenis-jenis pteridofita epifit di kawasan ini dan mengkarakterisasi sporanya. Metode pengambilan sampel dilakukan menggunakan metode eksplorasi. Setiap jenis yang dijumpai didokumentasikan, dibuat herbarium, dideskripsi dan diidentifikasi. Spora dikoleksi dari daun yang sudah dewasa dan dibuat preparat menggunakan metode asetolisis. Preparat spora diamati dan didokumentasikan menggunakan mikroskop digital. Data yang diperoleh kemudian disajikan dalam bentuk gambar dan tabel serta dianalisis secara deskriptif. Hasil inventarisasi paku epifit di kawasan Universitas Riau mengidentifikasi 18 jenis paku epifit, yang tergolong ke dalam 6 famili yaitu Aspleniaceae, Davalliaceae, Nephrolepidaceae, Polypodiaceae Pteridaceae and Thelypteridaceae. Namun kajian palinologi hanya dilakukan pada 11 jenis yang sudah menghasilkan spora. Hasil pengamatan spora menunjukan bahwa semua jenis paku epifit mempunyai tipe dasar spora monolete, berbentuk ginjal dan hanya mempunyai satu laesura pada bagian ventral. Ukuran spora yang dijumpai adalah besar dan sangat besar, dengan ornamentasi permukaan Lohpat, verukat berpapila verukat, tuberkulat, ekinat pendek dan ekinat panjang. Morfologi spora yang ditemukan pada penelitian ini menunjukan karakteristik yang berbeda pada setiap jenis. Namun masih perlu dilanjutkan pengamatan menggunakan Scanning Electron Microscopy untuk mendapatkan oramentasi lebih detilKata kunci : paku epifit, palinologi, spora, monolete, UNRI Abstract : Ephypitic ferns are commonly found in University of Riau area. Spore characteristics play important role in taxonomical words. This study aimed to identify ephypitic pteridophyte species from this area and characterize their spore. Samples were collected using exploration method, and were then documented, prepared for herbarium, described and identified. Spore grains were collected from mature leaves and prepared by using acetolysis method. The spores were then observed and documented using digital microscope. Data were presented in figures and tables and describtively analized. The inventory of ephypitic ferns from University of Riau area identified a total of 18 fern species belong to 6 families, i.e. Aspleniaceae, Davalliaceae, Nephrolepidaceae, Polypodiaceae, Pteridaceae and Thelypteridaceae. Palinologycal study had been carried out from 11 species that produced spore. We observed the basic spore type of examined ephypitic ferns, monolete, with reniform shape and one laesura at the ventral part. The size of spore observed were big and very big spore, with surface ornamentation Lohpate, papillous verucate, verucate, tuberculate,, short echinate and long echinate. Spore morphology observed in this study showed the characteristic among the examined species. The further study using Scanning Electron Microscopy is neccesary to obtain detail spore ornamentation.Keywords: ephypitic fern, palynology, spore, monolete, UNRI

Structure of the petioles and costae of Mexican and Central American species of Pteris (Polypodiopsida, Pteridaceae)

Given the taxonomic complexity of the genus Pteris in the Neotropics, the present work aims to collect information about the anatomy of the petioles and the costae of native, adventitious, and introduced Mexican and Central American species of Pteris, and to analyse its taxonomic potential. We collected fresh and dried samples from 26 species, making histological sections by hand. With the naked eye or with a dissection microscope, the colour and size of the axes, and the characters of the awns were recorded. Other characters (indument, anatomy, specifically the stele) were observed in a compound microscope. The type of stele of the petiole, characterized by the shape of xylem, appeared to be an important taxonomic character because it presents a remarkable correlation with some of the groups formed by spore type. Some of these groups of Mesoamerican species of Pteris, formed by means of morphological criteria (petiole xylem + spore) fit very well certain clades established by means of molecular characters.

First molecular evidence of Thelohanellus wallagoi Sarkar, 1985 (Myxozoa) from economically important food fish, freshwater shark Wallago attu (Siluridae) in India

The freshwater shark Wallago attu (Bl. and Schn.) is a frequent silurid in the River Ganga and one of the most commercially exploit fish in India. In a survey on its infection with myxosporeans, spore type belongs to Thelohanellus species was found in the gills, kidney and intestine respectively. Through morphological and molecular investigations, we identified the spore as Thelohanellus wallagoi Sarkar, 1985. They were pyriform in valvular view and slim in sutural view, and had one pyriform polar capsule with four to five turns. The spores measured 8.0 × 4.0 × 2.3 μm. T. wallagoi developed in small cysts in the gill lamellae, whereas cyst and scattered spores of T. wallagoi were also found in the kidney and intestine respectively. The 18S rDNA sequence of T. wallagoi isolates recovered from gills, kidney and intestine were found similar to each other and differed from any other Thelohanellus species available in GenBank and validated its status after 32 years of original description. Phylogenetic analysis signified that T. wallagoi was placed sister to Myxobolus species in the clade that indicated the polyphyletic nature of the genus Thelohanellus.

Phylogenetic position of the crustose Stereocaulon species

Phylogenetic relationships of Stereocaulon with emphasis on the crustose taxa were studied based on nuclear ribosomal ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 and partial beta-tubulin sequences. The placement of four of the six crustose species currently included in the genus has previously been confirmed based on molecular data. It has, however, remained unresolved whether the crustose growth form is a plesiomorphic or apomorphic feature within Stereocaulon, due to contradictory placements of the crustose species in earlier studies. The aim of this study was to clarify the position of the crustose species by including additional data, especially of S. nivale and S. plicatile, which have not been included in previous analyses. The inclusion of S. plicatile in the genus is of particular interest as it is the only species in the genus with submurifrom to muriform ascospores. Altogether 37 specimens representing 31 species of the ingroup, including all the crustose Stereocaulon species, were incorporated in the analyses. Conventional, as well as direct optimization parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses were performed. The results show that the crustose species do not form a monophyletic entity and that the crustose growth form is a plesiomorphic feature within Stereocaulon. The crustose S. nivale and S. plicatile are nested within the genus and their inclusion in Stereocaulon is thereby confirmed. The nested position of S. plicatile indicates that the submuriform to muriform spore type has been gained independently within the genus. Here, S. plicatile is also reported for the first time from Scandinavia.

Comparative Infectivity of Cronartium ribicola Aeciospores and Urediniospores in Genotypes of Ribes nigrum

Hosts for the fungus Cronartium ribicola, causal agent of white pine blister rust (WPBR), include five-needle pines as aecial hosts, and currants and gooseberries as uredinial/telial hosts. Aeciospores produced on diseased pine, and urediniospores produced on diseased Ribes plants, can infect Ribes foliage. Resistance and susceptibility for both spore types have been reported for Ribes; however, the comparative infectivity of these spore types on clonal Ribes nigrum genotypes is under-described. Immunity, resistance, and susceptibility to WPBR resides at a clonal level in Ribes. Previous studies have emphasized fungal diversity or forestry considerations, rather than horticultural aspects. The objective of this study was to determine if aeciospores and urediniospores were equally infective to specific genotypes of black currant, Ribes nigrum, with differential responses. A family of 51 black currant genotypes from a cross between a known-immune cultivar containing the Cr gene and a susceptible cultivar was examined. Single-leaf softwood cuttings of each of these genotypes were artificially inoculated with a spore solution and incubated in airtight plastic containers within a growth chamber. Inoculations were replicated three times for each spore type. Twenty-two of the F1 genotypes did not develop uredia after artificial inoculation. These may be immune; 22 developed uredia after exposure to both types of inoculum, and were susceptible; whereas seven exhibited differential responses and may have some mechanism for resistance to WPBR other than the Cr gene. The infectivity of aeciospores and urediniospores was not significantly different on specific Ribes genotypes. Either spore type can therefore be considered equally effective as inoculum when screening for WPBR resistance or immunity in horticultural settings.

Pichia insulana sp. nov., a novel cactophilic yeast from the Caribbean

A novel species of ascomycetous yeast, Pichia insulana sp. nov., is described from necrotic tissue of columnar cacti on Caribbean islands. P. insulana is closely related to and phenotypically very similar to Pichia cactophila and Pichia pseudocactophila. There are few distinctions between these taxa besides spore type, host preference and locality. Sporogenous strains of P. insulana that produce asci with four hat-shaped spores have been found only on Curaçao, whereas there was no evidence of sporogenous P. cactophila from that island. In addition, sequences of the D1/D2 fragment of the large-subunit rDNA from 12 Curaçao strains showed consistent differences from the sequences of the type strains of P. cactophila and P. pseudocactophila. The type strain of P. insulana is TSU00-106.5T (=CBS 11169T =UCD-FST 09-160T).

Aeromycoflora in Outdoor Environment of Timisoara City (Romania)

An aeromycological study to identify and quantify allergenic fungi and their fluctuations was conducted at Timisoara. The diversity of the aeromycoflora in this study, based on the recovery of fungal propagules by the volumetric sampling method was conducted for 30 days using the Lanzoni sampler. The study showed that the most prevalent (major components) fungal spores in the air of Timisoara were Cladosporium spp., Drechslera/Helminthosporium spp., Alternaria spp. and Epicoccum spp. The abundant genera were Cladosporium, Fusarium/Leptosphaeria, Drechslera/Helminthosporium, Alternaria and Torula. Cladosporium was the most abundant fungal spore type (41%) collected throughout the period of study reaching.

Variability of nitrogen-fixing Frankia on Alnus species

Plants maintain mutualistic symbioses with multiple symbiont genotypes that differ in the benefits they provide. To investigate differences in the effect of nitrogen-fixing Frankia on Alnus species, spore-producing (sp+) nodules from Alnus rubra Bong. and Alnus incana subsp. rugosa (Du Roi) Clausen and non-spore-producing (sp–) nodules from Alnus viridis subsp. crispa (Ait.) Turrill, A. rubra, and A. incana subsp. rugosa were collected from each of four different populations and used to inoculate all three Alnus species. As expected, sp+ Frankia produced significantly more nodules on all three species. However, A. crispa, which normally does not have sp+ nodules in the field, was more susceptible to a high level of infection by sp+ Frankia in general, and by any source of sp+ Frankia in particular, whereas A. incana subsp. rugosa, which has the highest abundance of sp+ in the field, was less susceptible to high levels of infection. This suggests that A. incana subsp. rugosa develops resistance to high levels of infection. The infectivity of an sp+ Frankia source on A. viridis subsp. crispa and A. rubra was positively correlated with the proportion of sp+ nodules on the site it was collected from, suggesting that the variation in the abundance of sp+ in the field is caused by sp+ Frankia with different levels of infectivity. There was no effect of Frankia sources on nodule allocation. Plant growth was positively correlated with the specific nodule mass and the specific nodule activity, and negatively correlated with the nodule number per plant. Sp+ Frankia resulted in significantly smaller plants in A. rubra. While there was no overall sp+ type effect on the growth of A. viridis subsp. crispa, the largest plants always resulted when they were inoculated with sp–, and the smallest with sp+ Frankia. Neither spore type nor inoculum source had any effect on the performance of A. rugosa. These results suggest that Alnus species remain susceptible to infection by both Frankia spore types, but are able to modulate the effectiveness of these spore types when they are the common symbionts in the field.