Massive Trentepohlia-Bloom in a Glacier Valley of Mt. Gongga, China, and a New Variety of Trentepohlia (Chlorophyta)

Abstract

Trentepohlia is a genus of subaerial green algae which is widespread in tropical, subtropical, and also temperate regions with humid climates. For many years, small-scale Trentepohlia coverage had been found on the rocks of some glacier valleys on the northern slopes of Mt. Gongga, China. However, since 2005, in the Yajiageng river valley, most of the rocks are covered with deep red coloured algal carpets, which now form a spectacular sight and a tourist attraction known as ‘Red-Stone-Valley’. Based on morphology and molecular data, we have named this alga as a new variety: Trentepohlia jolithus var. yajiagengensis var. nov., it differs from the type variety in that its end cells of the main filament are often rhizoid, unilateral branches. This new variety only grows on the native rock, both global warming and human activity have provided massive areas of suitable substrata: the rocks surfaces of the Yajiageng river valley floodplain were re-exposed because of heavy debris flows in the summer of 2005; plus human activities such as tourism and road-building have also created a lot of exposed rock! In summer, the glaciers of the northern slopes of Mt. Gongga have brought to the valleys wet and foggy air, ideal for Trentepohlia growth. The cells of the new variety are rich in secondary carotenoids (astaxanthin?), which helps the algal cells resistance to strong ultraviolet radiation at high altitudes (they are only found on rock surfaces at alt. 1900–3900 m); the cells are also rich in oils, which gives them high resistance to cold dry winters.

Comparative analysis of growth and carotenoid accumulation of Trentepohlia arborum in aerial, subaerial, and aquatic cultivation

“…The strain was isolated from the bark of a Ficus virens in Sichuan, China. The strain was identified by morphology and SSU rDNA gene sequence comparison using the NCBI BLAST database (Liu et al 2012). The alga was maintained on solid BG11 medium containing 1 % agar and then transferred into liquid modified Bold's Basal medium (BBM) for culturing.…”

“…The algal genus Trentepohlia is widespread in different locations such as tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions, even in frigid zones (Allali et al 2013;Nash et al 1987;Jorgensen and Tonsberg 1988;Liu et al 2012). The colonies of Trentepohlia generally grow on the surface of rocks, soil, walls, or tree trunks, to form a spectacular orange or red "carpet" named "Red stone" (Liu et al 2012), because it is rich in carotenoid content, especially β-carotene (Kjosen et al 1972;Czeczuga and Maximov 1996;Abe et al 1998;Mukherjee et al 2010).…”

“…The colonies of Trentepohlia generally grow on the surface of rocks, soil, walls, or tree trunks, to form a spectacular orange or red "carpet" named "Red stone" (Liu et al 2012), because it is rich in carotenoid content, especially β-carotene (Kjosen et al 1972;Czeczuga and Maximov 1996;Abe et al 1998;Mukherjee et al 2010). Moreover, some carotenoids, unique to this group, have been found in Trentepohlia gobii Meyer (Czeczuga and Maximov 1996) and Trentepohlia jolithus (L.) Wallroth (Kjosen et al 1972;Nybraate and Liaaen-Jensen 1974).…”

“…Many studies have been carried out on Trentepohlia spp., most of them focused mainly on taxonomy (Lopez-Bautista et al 2006;Rindi and Lopez-Bautista 2007;Rindi et al 2009), ecology (Rindi and Guiry 2002;Rindi and Lopez-Bautista 2007;Liu et al 2012;Allali et al 2013), and physiological characteristics (Abe et al 1999;Chapman et al 2001;Gupta and Agrawal 2004;Mukherjee et al 2010). Only a few attempts have been made to culture Trentepohlia odorata (F.H.…”

“…Trentepohlia is referred to as an aerial (Abe et al 1998) or subaerial genus (Ho et al 1983;Rindi and Guiry 2002;Liu et al 2012), with none ever found in natural aquatic habitats (Lopez-Bautista et al 2002). However, some species, such as T. aurea, can be grown successfully in liquid medium in the laboratory (Abe et al 1998).…”