ARE MIGRATING WATERFOWL TRANSPORTING CHARA AS THEY MIGRATE?

Renee Smith, and S.T Meiers

Department of Biological Sciences, Western Illinois University Macomb Illinois 
61455.

      Charophytes are plantlike green algae that are an important in regulating 
lake chemistry, and providing food, nutrients, and habitat for animals.  
Previous studies (Proctor 1967, 1968, and Proctor and Malone 1965) have shown 
that Chara propagules can survive passage through the digestive systems of 
migrating waterfowl and remain viable, suggesting that migrating waterfowl could 
have a significant impact on charophyte dispersal.  In this study, we examined 
Chara samples from 6 different lakes in the southern, eastern, and western 
regions of Illinois that are stops along waterfowl migration routes. We 
sequenced a segment of the chloroplast atpB gene that is phylogenetically 
informative for other charophytes (Sakayama et al 2004, 2005).  Utilizing 
parsimony in the analysis program PAUP, analyses resulted in 3 most parsimonious 
trees of 113 steps (CI=0.885, RI =0.629), that indicated that some Chara 
individuals from one region of the state were most closely related to 
individuals from other regions of the state.  This indicates support for the 
hypothesis that migrating waterfowl are indeed transporting viable Chara 
propagules around the state.

Keywords: Charophytes, Chara zeylanica, waterfowl dispersal, atpB gene, 
phylogeny