Bimodal spore release heights in the water column enhance local retention and population connectivity of bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana.

ABSTRACT: Dispersal of reproductive propagules determines recruitment patterns and connectivity among populations and can influence how populations respond to major disturbance events. Dispersal distributions can depend on propagule release strategies. For instance, the bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, can release propagules (spores) from two heights in the water column ("bimodal release"): at the water surface, directly from the reproductive tissues (sori) on the kelp's blades, and near the seafloor after the sori abscise and sink through the water column. N. luetkeana is a foundation species that occurs from central California to Alaska and is experiencing unprecedented levels of population declines near its southern range limit. We know little of the kelp's dispersal distributions,

SUBMITTER: Burnett NP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11322238 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature