Bladderwrack: Tougher than suspected
Friday, October 31, 2014 - 14:00
in Biology & Nature
The bladderwrack Fucus vesiculosus is actually one of the most important species of brown algae along the North Atlantic coasts. But for years their populations in the Baltic Sea were declining. Looking for the reasons, biologists of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel now have analyzed the defense mechanisms of bladderwrack against bacterial vermins under different environmental conditions. The surprising result: The defense proved to be very robust to environmental changes. The study is published today in the international online-journal PLOS ONE.