Cj. Bird et Jp. Vandermeer, SYSTEMATICS OF ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT MARINE-ALGAE - A CANADIAN PERSPECTIVE, Canadian journal of botany, 71(3), 1993, pp. 361-369
Marine algae of economic importance encompass species of positive valu
e, such as seaweeds harvested for food or hydrocolloid extractives, an
d species with negative effect. such as toxic phytoplankton or nuisanc
e macrophytes. Only a small part of the global algal resource is obtai
ned in Canada, and the overall benefit to the nation's economy is rela
tively minor, but there exists the potential for further development o
f useful species. On the other hand, the negative effects of toxic mic
roalgae are increasing, in the form of losses to the shellfish fishery
and aquaculture industry and the cost of providing toxicity-testing a
nd phytoplankton-monitoring services. It is obvious that effective uti
lization of valuable algae, or defense against undesirable ones, must
be attended by sound taxonomy to ensure that algae of interest are cor
rectly identified and recognizable. However, the algae present particu
lar problems to systematists, a major one being the variety of life hi
stories, which may involve independent and conspicuous dissimilar phas
es. In addition, many algae are phenotypically highly variable in resp
onse to environment, which is often insufficiently appreciated. The co
nverse situation also exists, in that morphologically similar species
are sometimes regarded as a single entity. Algal taxonomists should st
rive to determine which variations are genetic and therefore taxonomic
ally significant. To illustrate these points, we review recent taxonom
ic studies on some algal genera of present or potential economic impor
tance in Canada.