Irgc News 28

IRGC NEWS INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH GROUP ON CHAROPHYTES

ISSN 1834-6030

Edited by: K. Torn, S. Schneider, A. Pukacz and E. Nat

28 March 2017

CONTENTS

Editorial 1 Images collection 21 New executive commitee 2 Announcement 21 In Memoriam 2 PhD thesis completion 22 Welcome to New Members 5 Forthcoming meetings 26 Minutes of the General Assembly 2016 5 Charophyte discussion forum 27 Report on past meetings 8 New IRGC homepage 28 Publication of the proceedings 7th IRGC, Astana 15 Charophytes on the web 28 Call for participation 15 Membership fees 29 Special issue: Botanica Serbica 15 E-mail addresses of IRGC members 30 Reference article 16 Address list of members 31 Report introduction 21 Group photograph 7th IRGC, Astana 36

EDITORIAL Another year has passed, and our small but very active organization has contributed with a number of exciting activities. Not at least, the 7th IRGC symposium was held in Astana, Kazakhstan. I thank the organizing committee, namely Aizhan Zhamangara, Raikhan Beisenova, Sherim Tulegenov, Leyla Akbayeva and Saida Nigmatova, for their excellent work, and the hosting institution, the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, for their hospitality. Please find the reports of the meeting in this issue of the IRGC-news; for all those who could not participate, the reports are an excellent chance to get up-to-date with the activities at the meeting, and for all others they are a wonderful opportunity to remember the scientific exchange, the hardships of the weather, and the very nice talks with friends and colleagues. At the meeting, a new Executive Committee was elected, and I thank all voting members for the confidence placed in the new Committee. Our warm thanks go to Carles Mar- tin-Closas and Adriana Garcia, for their competent, smooth and pleasant leadership over many years. The new committee stands on your shoulders! The change in the Executive Committee also means that the location of our website has changed. Please check http://www.sea.ee/irgcharophytes/, and – most importantly – please inform us about on- going activities, forthcoming conferences, new books, etc., such that we can share this information with the world. You may also share charophyte pictures with us, to be posted on the website (with proper reference to the author, of course). Thanks to all of you who help keeping our association alive, by preparing information for the IRGC news or the website, organizing and participating in meetings, and by keeping up the enthusiasm for a fascinating group of algae. Susanne Schneider

NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Guerlesquin, grew up, nearby, in Angers where she spent all her life. In 1944 she entered the President: Susanne Schneider (Oslo, Norway), [email protected] Vice-President: Andrzej Pukacz (Słubice, Poland), [email protected] Secretary: Kaire Torn (Tallinn, Estonia), [email protected] Treasurer: Emile Nat (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), [email protected]

Members at large Robin Scribailo (USA) Dominique Auderset Joye (Switzerland)

Regional Correspondents Uwe Raabe (Europe) Simone Baecker-Fauth (North and South America) National School of Medicine and Pharmacy of Sha Li (China) Angers and went on in Paris to obtain her diploma in Pharmacy from the Faculty of Paris The task of the Regional Correspondents is to (1950). In 1951 she joined, like Mr. Corillion, collect relevant information about meetings, the “Laboratory of Vegetal Biology and Phyto- books, etc. from their area and forward it to geography” from the Catholic University the IRGC Secretary by February every year. (UCO-Angers) and completed her studies with a postgraduate certificate in Chemistry Biology

and one in Mineralogy. She got married in IN MEMORIAM 1953 to Jacques Guerlesquin, who unfortunately died in 1961. She was a very discreet person Dr Micheline Guerlesquin (1928-2016) regarding her family but I would retain her attachment for them. She passed away near her Born January 11th, 1928 in Saumur along the 89 th birthday, in Angers on the 11th of Decem- River Loire Valley (France), Micheline ber 2016.

8th GEC Meeting in Barcelona (1994). From left to right: Carles Martín-Closas, Nicole Grambast-Fessard, Micheline Guerlesquin, Marie Claire Berger, Jean Pierre Berger, Maria Kwiatowska, Monique Feist, Alicia Masriera, Ursula Winter, Janusz Maszewsky

she contributed to a better knowledge of the The principal subject of her research was the charophyte vegetation (Lambert & study of charophytes. Mr. Corillion had a fun- Guerlesquin, 2002). damental role in the evolution of her career. Under his direction she undertook her "Re- Her work concerned also Phanerogams. To- search on Antheridia of the Charophyceae - gether with R. Corillion, she realised the vege- Morphological, biological and systematic stud- tation maps of Cherbourg, Caen and La Ro- ies" that allowed her to obtain a Diploma of chelle included in the vegetation cartography Higher Studies of Natural Sciences (1958). framework of the West and North-West of Within the framework of the CNRS (National France supervised by the CNRS. She partici- Center of Scientific Research) from 1959 to pated in the regular monitoring of species, car- 1993, promoted to the rank of Research Direc- ried out since 1961, on the Natural Reserve of tor in August 1985, and Director of the “Vege- Pont Barré (49), a site with a remarkable con- tal Biology and Phytogeography Laboratory” centration of exceptional plant species, ac- from 1983 to 1996, she worked all her life in quired by R. Corillion. She worked on the flora the UCO. She became Doctor of Natural Sci- of the Loire Valley and that of the Armorican ences at the Faculty of Toulouse (1967), pre- Massif, their richness and the impact of human senting her PhD Thesis about "Karyotypic and activities, through studies or excursions with cytotaxonomic research on the Charophyceae various botanical societies: Société Botanique of Western Europe and North Africa with a de France ; Society of Phycology ; Society of second subject related to the Karyotypes of the Scientific Studies of Anjou (of which she was Charophyceae in their relations with biogeog- president from 1992 to 1994). raphy and systematics". This career led her to be an Advisory Member Her research led to numerous fieldworks with of various commissions: “Sites and Landscapes Mr Corillion, in France and abroad: studies of commission”; “Quarries Departemental Com- charophyte vegetation in Italy (Corillion, mission”; “Regional scientific council of the Guerlesquin 1963); Exploration of the aquatic natural heritage of Pays de la Loire”, She re- environments of Western Senegal (1967-1970) ceived several awards for her work: Prize of in order to complete the research of A. Braun, the French Botanical Society Council, the 1868 « die Characeen Afrika's». This led to a CNRS Medal, the Academic Palms. major publication in 1972, "Research on the One of her last tasks was to participate at na- Charophyceae of West Africa: systematics, tional herbaria meetings in order to highlight phytogeography and ecology, cytolo- the importance of the collected specimens con- gy". Between 1974-1995, she worked on the stituting the Herbarium of the UCO (interna- charophytes of Marocco and Tunisia, present- tionally referenced as ANGUC). ing chromosomic, cytological and cytotaxo- nomical observations. She also worked on The richness of her knowledge, her desire to charophytes from India (1979), and South share it through lectures, to welcome PhD stu- America (Guerlesquin 1981 « Nitella clavatoi- dents and researchers in her laboratory, have des, new species from Bolivia») or Characeae led to numerous exchanges with colleagues species in high altitude lakes 1991-1992). from different continents. Her memory will be Along the years she completed with R. Coril- kept alive among them. For my part I will al- lion the work about the french charophytes in ways be grateful to her for having welcomed different regions (Tolypella sp., Nitellopis ob- me since 1984 in this UCO Laboratory. I will tusa, Lamprothamnium sp., …). Member of the never forget her help and her advice as well as IRGC and the GEC, she co-organized the those of Mr. Corillion. They allowed me to Symposium on "Current and Fossil Charo- discover the botanical richness of the River phytes" in Montpellier in 1989 with Mrs N. Loire Valley and introduced me to the world of Grambast-Fessard. charophytes.

She was also a member of the GIS (Scientific Elisabeth Lambert-Servien (France) Interest Group) “Macrophytes of the continental waters” when the IBMR (Macrophytic Riv- er Biological Index) standard was introduced to assess the quality of water, using the presence of macrophytes including some charophytes

(Haury et al., 1997&1998). Within the Natura

2000 framework and the Habitats Directive, 3

Selected publications of M. Guerlesquin phycées), de Bolivie. Cryptogamie : Algolo- dealing with charophytes: gie, 2 (4): 303-308. GUERLESQUIN M., 1984 - Nombres chro- GUERLESQUIN M., 1958 - Recherche sur mosomiques et ploïdie chez les Charophytes. l'anthéridie chez les Charophycées. Morphol- Cryptogamie : Algologie, V (2-3): 115-126. ogie, biologie et systématique. D.E.S. univ. GUERLESQUIN M., EL KHIATI N., Toulouse, 100 p. dactyl., 22 pl., 13 photos. RAMDANI M. & VAQUER A., 1987 - CORILLION R. & GUERLESQUIN M., 1959 Lamprothamnium succinctum A. Br. in - Premières observations cytotaxinomiques Asch., espèce de Characée nouvelle pour le sur le genre Tolypella (Charophycées). Bull. Maroc. Bull. Inst. sci. Rabat, 11: 129-133. Soc. Et. sci. Angers, N. S., 2: 167-170. GUERLESQUIN M., 1987 - Recherches ré- CORILLION R. & GUERLESQUIN M., 1963 centes sur les Charophycées : morphogenèse - Contribution à l'étude des végétations de et reproduction sexuée. Bull. Soc. bot. Fr., Charophycées d'Italie péninsulaire (étage Actualités botan., 134 (1): 17-30. méditerranéen). Bull. Soc. sci. Bretagne, GUERLESQUIN M., SULMONT G. & XXXVIII (3-4): 193-211. WATTEZ J.-R., 1990 - Biotopes riches en GUERLESQUIN M., 1965 - Sur quelques cas Charophycées dans les milieux humides de la de variabilité naturelle du stock chromo- Picardie occidentale. Bull. Soc. Linn. Nord- somique haploïde dans les spermatocystes Picardie, 1990, 8: 59-64. des genres Tolypella, Nitellopsis et Chara GUERLESQUIN M., 1990 - Contribution to (Charophycées). Bull. Soc. Et. Sci. Anjou, N. morphogenesis and sexual reproduction in S., 5: 53-59. Charophyta. Phytomorphology, 40 (1 & 2): GUERLESQUIN M., 1967 - Recherches cary- 189-216. otypiques et cytotaxinomiques chez les Char- GRAMBAST-FESSARD N. & ophycées d'Europe occidentale et d'Afrique GUERLESQUIN M., 1991 - Charophytes ac- du Nord. Thèse Doct. Sci. nat. d'Etat Tou- tuelles et fossiles : avant-propos. Bull. Soc. louse (1967) 1 vol. 265 p., 32 pl., 16 cartes. bot. Fr., Actualités botan., 138 (1): 3-7. Bull. Soc. sci. Bretagne, 1966, XL1, fasc. H. GUERLESQUIN M., 1992 - Charophytes, S. chap. VI-2b in “Lake Titicaca, a synthesis of GUERLESQUIN M., 1971 - Recherches sur Limnological Knowledge”, Dejoux & Iltis Chara zeylanica Klein ex Willd. (Charophy- éd., Kluwer Acad. Publ., Monographiae bio- cées) d'Afrique occidentale. Revue Al- logicae, ORSTOM, 68: 232-240. gologique., N. S., 10 (3): 231-247. GUERLESQUIN M., 1992 - Systématique et CORILLION R. & GUERLESQUIN M., 1972 biogéographie du genre Lamprothamnium - Recherches sur les Charophycées d'Afrique (Characées) caractéristique des biotopes occidentale (Systématique, Ecologie et Phy- aquatiques saumâtres. Rev. Sci. Eau, 5 (3): togéographie, Cytologie). Bull. Soc. sci. Bre- 415-430. tagne, XLVII, fasc. H. S.: 169 p. Mc COURT R. M., KAROL K. G., GUERLESQUIN M., 1977 - Observations GUERLESQUIN M. & FEIST M., 1996 - chromosomiques sur les Characées du Sud Phylogeny of extant genera in the family Tunisien. Bull. Soc. Phycol. France, 22: 60- Characeae (Charales, Charophyceae) based 69. on rbcL sequences and morphology. Ameri- GUERLESQUIN M., 1978 - Les Characées du can Journal of Botany, 83 (1): 125-131. Maroc : bilan et répartition de la Flore. GUERLESQUIN M., 1996 - On the variability Travaux R.C.P. 249, C.N.R.S., IV: 139-148, of the known Chromosome numbers ob- 2 tabl. served in the Characeae. In "Cytology, Genet- GUERLESQUIN M. & VAQUER A., 1980 - ics and Molecular Biology of Algae", Quelques observations biologiques et floris- Chaudhary & Agrawal éd., SPB Acad. Publ. tiques sur les rizières de Camargue: biotopes Amst.: 95-113. à Characées. Bulletin d'Ecologie, 11 (2): 113- HAURY J., JAFFRE M., DUTARTRE A., 124. PELTRE M.-C., BARBE J., TREMO- GUERLESQUIN M., 1981 - Contribution à la LIERES M., GUERLESQUIN M. & MUL- connaissance des Characées d'Amérique du LER S., 1997 & 1998 - Application de la Sud (Bolivie, Equateur, Guyane française). méthode "Milieu Et Végétaux aquatiques Rev. Hydrobiol. trop., 14 (4): 381-404. fixés" à 12 rivières françaises : typologie flo- GUERLESQUIN M., 1981 - Nitella clavatoi- ristique préliminaire. Annales de Limnologie, des, nouvelle espèce du genre Nitella (Charo- 1998, 34 (2): 129-138. 4

LAMBERT E., GUERLESQUIN M., 2002. Prof. HUANG studied Triassic charophytes Eaux oligo-mésotrophes calcaires avec from the Huangmaqing Formation in Nanjing végétation benthique à Chara spp. Fiche city, Jiangsu Province. He concluded that the 3140. Communautés à Characées des eaux ol- charophyte flora was mainly composed of the igo-mésotrophes basiques. Fiche 3140 (1). genus Stellatochara, which could be compared Cahiers d'habitats Natura 2000 "Connais- with the flora found in Europe, Russia and oth- sance et gestion des habitats et des espèces er parts in China with the age of Middle Trias- d'intérêt communautaire " – Tome 3 Habitats sic. humides – Ed. La documentation française : Prof. HUANG was also an active member of 97-106. the IRGC. He attended the first IRGC confer-

ence in Montpelier in 1989, giving a report on K/T boundary charophyte assemblages from Prof. HUANG Renjin (1938-2014) Southern China. His report and study was recognized and respected by charophyte peers. Prof. HUANG was born in 1938 in Liyang Prof. HUANG was an energetic, enthusiastic City, Jiangsu Province, China, graduated from and intelligent person, especially contributed a the Nanjing University in 1963 and then lot to the development of charophyte research worked in the Nanjing Institute of Geology and in China, having a profound and far-reaching Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences influence for young generations of charophyte until 1998 when he retired. Prof. HUANG scientists. passed away on 7th of October, 2014 because of lung cancer. He was the member of IRGC, Palaeontological Society of China and Micro- Li Sha and Wang Qifei (Nanjing, China) palaeontological Society of China. Prof. HUANG contributed a lot to the devel- WELCOME TO NEW IRGC MEMBERS opment of petroleum in China. He had attended lots of fieldworks for oil field of Jiangsu, It is a great pleasure to welcome our new Shengli, Dagang, Liaohe, Zhongyuan and oth- members. Akram Ahmadi (Iran), Anja ers in China. Through studying charophyte bi- Holzhausen (Germany), Robin Sleith (USA), ostratigraphy and stratigraphic correlation, he Stephen Gottschalk (USA), Sophia Barinova helped staff at the oil field to date and correlate (Israel), and Gregor Kozlowski (Switzerland) the strata, which is important for finding oil. are warmly welcomed. Please see their affilia- th tion in the addresses section. During the 70s to 80s of the 20 century, Prof. HUANG published a series of papers on Creta- ceous-Paleocene charophytes from Mesozoic MINUTES OF THE GENERAL AS- and Cenozoic lacustrine basins in China, in- SEMBLY 2016 cluding Nanxiong and Sanshui Basins of Guangdong Province, Sichuan Basin of Si- The general assembly of the IRGC was held chuan Provinces, North Jiangsu Basin of Jiang- during the 7th IRGC Symposium in Astana, su Province and Dongpu Sag of Henan and Kazakhstan, on 01.09.2016. Shandong Provinces (Huang, 1979; Wang et IRGC’s president’s report al., 1982; Huang and Zhang, 1984; Huang, 1985; Zhao and Huang, 1985; Huang, 1988; Carles Martín-Closas welcomed everybody, Huang et al., 1988; Huang and Zhang, 1989). and read through the minutes of the previous He concluded that the Paleogene charophytes IRGC general assembly in Mendoza 2012, are usually ornamented with tubercles on spiral which were also visible to all participants of cells and apical nodules, differing from the the assembly projected on a screen. They were Cretaceous charophytes. Prof. HUANG also also published in 2013 in the IRGC news 24. studied charophytes from the Jurassic deposits The minutes were approved afterwards. in the Sichuan Basin (Huang, 1986). He estab- The president informed about the present legal lished two assemblages and concluded that the situation of the IRGC. Despite the fact that no- first assemblage can be compared to the Mid- body from the Executive Committee presently dle Jurassic charophytes from Yunnan Prov- has a legal address in France, the IRGC is for- ince, China and the second assemblage can be mally registered in Montpellier (France). It is compared to the Late Jurassic charophytes still more advantageous to manage the IRGC from Germany and America. Furthermore, 5 account in France than moving the organiza- The proceedings of the last IRGC meeting in tion to another country. Mendoza have been published in the journal “Aquatic Botany” thanks to the management of A brief account of the activities of the associa- Adriana Garcia, Susi Schneider, Allan Chivas tion during the 4-years period was presented and Carles Martín-Closas. This well-ranked next. The IRGC supported during these last journal allowed our association to reach a wid- four years two GEC meetings (European er audience for the outcomes of our activities. branch of the IRGC) which have been held in Vilnius (Lithuania) in 2014 organized by Zofi- The proceedings of the present IRGC meeting ja Sinkeviciene and in Geneva (Switzerland) in could also be published in a special issue of a 2015, organized by Dominique Auderset-Joye journal with an Impact Factor of medium rank and Aurélie Boissezon. Thanks to all organiz- (i.e. ca. 1) if there was enough interest by the ers for the fruitful and well-organized meet- audience (at least 15 eligible papers). It was ings. stressed that in such journals only papers interesting for an international audience will be ac- The next GEC meeting was announced, which cepted. Two international journals were men- will be held in Valencia (Spain) in 2017, by tioned: “Procedia” (suggested by Margarete Maria Rodrigo and Sara Calero. Maria invited Kalin) and “Botany Letters” (suggested by all participants to the meeting, and briefly de- Elisabeth Lambert). 15 persons declared they scribed the University of Valencia, and inter- would be willing to prepare a manuscript. Eve- esting sites for the field trips. ryone agreed to prepare the abstracts by No- There was a discussion about the activities of vember 1st to check the possibilities of publish- regional groups. It was noticed, that the most ing. Carles Martín-Closas accepted to contact active group within IRGC is GEC and there is the possible publishers. little activity and reports from other parts of the Since the last IRGC meeting a number of world. The new members were mentioned and books have been published that were not di- welcomed. rectly sponsored by the association but were The IRGC president dedicated special thanks written or edited by the members, sometimes to the organizers of the 7th IRGC Meeting, as the result of a collaboration promoted in part Aizhan Zhamangara, Sherim Tulegenov and by our association. They are: Raikhan Beisenova, for organizing such a suc- - The Physiology of Characean Cells (Mary cessful meeting. About 30 delegates attended Beilby and Michelle Casanova), 2014 the Symposium coming from Canada, the - Armleuchteralgen - die Characeen Deutsch- United States, Spain, France, the Netherlands, lands (the German Group of Charophytes), Germany, Norway, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, 2016 Israel, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Japan - Guide des Characées de la France and Australia. More than 40 presentations were Méditerranéenne (Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche given, about most of the fields in charophyte and coauthors), 2016 research. The members of our association change con- Carles Martín-Closas summarized the activity tinuously, but the IRGC keeps a quite regular of the IRGC News, which has been regularly pool of about 100 members. 14 new members published by the first trimester of every year, joined the IRGC since the Mendoza meeting. thanks mainly to the contribution of the Execu- Michael Schudack passed away on January tive Board. Special thanks were addressed to 2016. He was secretary of our organization in Adriana Garcia for the whole editorial job and the period of 2000-2004 and organized a GEC Susi Schneider who prepared every year a use- Meeting in 1991. Some of us felt very heavily ful and interesting summary of publications this loss. about charophytes. It was also mentioned that It is important that the members keep their fees some members send every year important updated since this is the only income that al- summaries about successfully defended PhD- lows us to do and send the IRGC News and to thesis on charophytes, reports on past meetings give some financial support to the Regional and other information. The executive board en- Meetings and the IRGC Symposium. The couraged the members to help in the prepara- membership fee of 20 Euro per year is ex- tion of the IRGC news, which continues to be tremely low in comparison to most legally in- the most useful means of communication with- scribed scientific associations. in the association.

Presently our association contributes with a 2016-price of 100 Euro will be awarded for the symbolical sum of 300 Euro to Regional Sym- best oral or poster presentation of a pre- posia (GEC) and 600 Euro to organizers of doctoral participant. The proposed jury was IRGC meetings. The Executive Committee formed by Mary Beilby, Hidetoshi Sakayama proposed to raise this sum to 500 and 1000 Eu- and Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche. All the young ro, respectively, starting from 2017. The as- people were asked to attend the closing cere- sembly approved this proposal. mony, when the results were announced. The award was given on 2nd September to Alba Vi- Carles Martín-Closas informed us that Robin cente. Scribailo (USA) stays in charge of the charophyte-L forum and Dominique Auderset Joye IRGC Treasurers report (SUI) will continue her work on the IRGC bib- The IRGC balance was presented by Emile Nat liography. (see table below) and was unanimously ap- The assembly discussed about Regional Corre- proved. Our income is modest and based ex- spondents: Uwe Raabe is the European corre- clusively on membership fees. All the mem- spondent and Simone Becker-Fauth reports ac- bers were encouraged to pay regularly, which tivities from N and S America. Additionally, Li is very important to keep financial liquidity. Sha (China) was proposed to take over from The assembly agreed to keep the fee of 20 Eu- Qifei Wang. The assembly approved this pro- ros. Many colleagues updated their member- posal, and Li Sha accepted the task as regional ship fees during the meeting in Astana. We al- correspondent for Asia. so agreed that dismissal from membership will be applied for non-payment of fees for more According to the proposal approved during the than two years. general Assembly in Rostock-2008, an IRGC

Table. IRGC balances of the years 2012-2015 2012 2013 2014 2015 Bank credit on January 1st € 1,929.79 € 1 761,52 € 1 820,42 € 3 147,15

INCOME Individual membership fees € 1,370.00 € 300,00 € 2 588,00 1868,71* *including Special Issue Aquatic Botany

Total income € 1,370.00 € 300,00 € 2 588,00 € 1 868,71

EXPENDITURES IRGC-News copies & mailing costs € 388,62 € 843,77 € 299,76 Bank and transfer charges, postal fees € 74,10 € 80,30 € 117,50 € 107,60 Contribution to IRGC meeting Mendoza € 600,00 Students Award € 100,00 Gift to the Musacchio family € 43,00 EMS (credit card) costs € 332,55 € 160,80 Contribution to GEC meeting Vilnius € 300,00 Contribution to GEC meeting Geneva € 300,00 Special Issue Aquatic Botany € 607,00

Total expenditures € 1 538,27 € 241,10 € 1 261,27 € 1 314,36

Yearly balance € 168,27 € 58,90 € 1 326,73 € 554,35

Total credit on December 31st € 1 761,52 € 1 820,42 € 3 147,15 € 3 701,50

Next IRGC Symposium tensification of the scientific exchange and continuation of the IRGC News and our web- In a four-year sequence, the next IRGC meet- site. After this short presentation Susanne ing shall be in 2020. Carles Martín-Closas pre- Schneider gave the floor back to Carles Mar- sented the candidature of Dr. Khaled Trabelsi tín-Closas who closed the General Assembly. (University of Sfax, Tunisia) to organize the 8th IRGC Symposium in Gammarth, Tunisia. Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche gave a short presentation of the possible venue and interesting REPORT ON PAST MEETINGS sites for the field trips. In turn, Carles, on behalf of Khaled, presented several possibilities 28 August – 5 September 2016 for the post-conference field trips on fossil 7th International Symposium on Extant charophytes and some additional sites. Most of and Fossil Charophytes, Astana, Repub- the assembled (22) voted in favor of this idea, lic of Kazakhstan noticing that it will depend on the geopolitical situation in that part of the world. Scientific sessions Election of Officers and the Executive th Committee The scientific session of the 7 meeting of the IRGC occurred on 31 August to 2 September The IRGC president announced the elections 2016 in Astana, the very young capital of Ka- and informed that the voting material has been zakhstan. The symposium was organized by sent three months in advance to all members in Aizhan Zhamangara and vigorously supported order to give all members the opportunity to by Sherim Tulegenov. The meeting took place vote and suggest the candidates. Carles Martín- in the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National Uni- Closas (previous President) and Adriana Gar- versity in a kind and almost familiar atmos- cia (previous Secretary General) resigned after phere. Up to 36 oral and poster presentations a two-term office. Two other committee mem- were given by speakers from 15 countries from bers were standing for re-election: Susanne Europe, Asia, America and Australia filled Schneider (new role as President) and Emile with a wide spectrum of charophyte research. Nat (re-election as Treasurer). Additionally, This report will try to summarize the main re- Kaire Torn (Estonia; Secretary General) and sults of the presentations by ordering them to Andrzej Pukacz (Poland; Vice-President) had four main subjects: 1) Fossil charophytes - bi- been nominated. ogeographic trends & endemism, 2) Taxono- Thirty-two (32) votes were either received by my, diversity and distribution, 3) Ecology and mail or during the meeting. All the ballots were 4) Physiology & biochemistry. opened and counted by Maria Rodrigo and Al- Fossil charophytes - biogeographic trends & ba Vicente during the General Assembly. The endemism new Executive Committee was elected as follows: The IRGC president, Carles Martín-Closas (Spain) opened the oral presentations and Susanne Schneider (President): 30 votes spoke about the findings of Iberian endemic Andrzej Pukacz (Vice-President): 31 votes charophytes at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary Kaire Torn (Secretary General): 31 votes with a few species that are exclusive from the Emile Nat (Treasurer): 32 votes Ebro Basin. Alba Vicente (Spain) won the After approving the voting Carles Martín- prize of the IRGC best student presentation for Closas thanked all the committee members for her very interesting talk about cosmopolitan the cooperation so far. He also expressed his and endemic charophytes from the Upper Cre- best wishes for a long-lasting and fruitful con- taceous and Lower Palaeocene. She demon- tinuation of the IRGC activities and handed the strated that extant and fossil charophytologists chair over to Susanne Schneider. have similar objectives and that both are faced with intraspecific polymorphism. The presenta- On behalf of the newly elected committee Su- tion of Li Sha (China) focused on Chinese sanne Schneider expressed her thanks to the charophytes during the Cretaceous-Paleogene former Executive Committee and to the audi- boundary and correlated them to the charo- ence for the votes. Then she briefly outlined phyte records from Europe. Taxonomy and dis- the main goals of the future work, emphasizing tribution of charophytes from Kazakhstan on the great diversity of subjects within our organ- the boundary of Eocene and Oligocene were ization. One of the main objectives will be in- 8 presented by Aizhan Zhamangara (Kazakh- quence data obtained from Chara braunii and stan) identifying three stages of charophyte de- showed that many gene families hypothesized velopment in the observed period. She empha- to be important in plant development are pre- sized that Kazakhstan can serve as a connec- sent in Chara. He asks for material of C. tion between Europe and Asia to examine the braunii for his phylogeographical analyses. common characteristics and differences be- Unfortunately, Kenneth G. Karol (USA) tween fossil charophytes of both continents and could not attend the meeting in the last mo- thus a better understanding of the evolution of ment, but Robin S. Sleith (USA) presented his charophytes. Joe T. Hannibal (USA) showed work about the mitochondrial and plastid ge- that the occurrence of charophytes in some nome sequences of 15 Characeae species and French buhr millstones can be linked to specif- showed that both organellar genomes evolved ic quarry sites within the Paris Basin. differently and told different stories about phylogenetic relationships of Embryophytes and Taxonomy, diversity & distribution Charophyceae. Roman E. Romanov (Russia) presented in Stephen D. Gottschalk (USA) presented an three oral and two poster presentations the cur- overview of the historical treatments of Chara rent state of knowledge of charophytes from subsection Willdenowia that Wood & Imahori Sinai, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia and the reduced to only one species. In contrast to this, permafrost areas of Yakutia. For the mainly current data based on morphology, biology and desert region Sinai he confirmed 11 species a four gene phylogeny suggested the existence and illustrated that Kazakhstan has the highest of more than 16 distinct species. The picture species richness among the Central Asian was different for phylogenetic analyses of states - with 29 confirmed charophyte species. Chara species presented by Susanne C. The most frequently collected species in Tajik- Schneider (Norway) indicating that morpho- istan even up to an altitude of 3800 m in the logical traits may serve as diagnostic tools for Pamir Mountains is Chara vulgaris. Roman E. species delineation, but that they are not gener- Romanov also presented that a large number of ally suitable for inferring genetic differentia- charophytes occur in the river valleys in Yaku- tion. That charophytes also can be listed as ag- tia . Based on detailed studies of herbaria of gressive invasive species showed Robin S. several universities, institutes and private col- Sleith (USA) in his presentation about the lections he confirmed 46 charophyte species movement and distribution of Nitellopsis ob- and updated the current knowledge of distribu- tusa in North America (Fig. 1, page 33). Spec- tion and richness of charophytes in Russia. imens introduced from Europe occurring in Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche (France) summa- habitats with high nutrients and high conduc- rized the knowledge on charophyte floras from tivity and showing remarkably little genetic Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and showed also variation. For better understanding of the that temporal waters, wadis or artificial lakes spread of Nitellopsis obtusa he is asking for play a role for the presence of charophyte spe- material. Stephen D. Gottschalk on behalf of cies. She considered the idea that Chara oe- Kenneth G. Karol (USA) talked about the dophylla could be presented an intermediate presence of Lychnothamnus barbatus in North state within the evolution of C. vulgaris from a America first documented in 2012 and dis- monoecious to dioecious species. Based on in- cussed the question if this species is native or tensive sampling from 185 localities Freshteh exotic. Ahmadi (Iran) improved the knowledge of the charophyte distribution in Iran and described Ecology 17 charophyte species including the new diplo- Intensive sampling and measuring of water stichous species Chara kohrangiana. chemistry data around New England and New Our knowledge about taxonomy and terminol- York allowed investigations of species richness ogy about charophytes, charophyte green algae using multivariate analyses and species distri- and the origin of land plants was summarized bution models by Robin S. Sleith (USA). by Adriana Garcia (Australia) with the sug- Conductivity or pH constrains species in dif- gestion using the term charophyte exclusively ferent ways indicating that conservation efforts for stoneworts and charophyte green algae or should try to protect a wide range of habitats. charophytic algae when referring to the clade Hendrik Schubert (Germany) analysed the of green algae including land plants. Hidetoshi occurrence and distribution of charophytes in Sakayama (Japan) presented the results of the Chile, demonstrating that ionic composition first reliable transcriptome and genome se- caused differences in the distribution patterns 9 of Chara and Nitella species, except C. braunii to the diaspore reservoir in the sediment and its which was found under ionic compositions regeneration potential showing that the dia- similar to Nitella species. Sara Calero (Spain) spore bank could play a role for regeneration studied the short life cycle of a parthenogenetic and conservation of coastal water ecosystems. population of Chara canescens. In response to The presentation of Anja Holzhausen (Ger- the fluctuating habitat and the annual character, many) focussed on the dormancy and vitality she found that C. canescens only has a repro- of oospores. Pre-treatment with cold tempera- ductive cycle of 5 months and that the size of tures as well as desiccation can be identified as oogonia depends on the position of the whorl. condition to break the dormancy. The vitality In her next presentation Sara Calero analysed of oospores can be detected with 2,3,5 - Tri- the phenology of three charophyte species phenyltetrazoliumchlorid. demonstrating that temperature seems to be a Physiology and biochemistry key factor in the regulation of the reproductive pattern. Additionally she reported that in- Mary J. Beilby (Australia) improved our creased salinity negatively affected the sexual knowledge about the signalling of charophyte reproduction of Chara hispida, by delaying the cells under salinity stress and showed that Ca2+ reproductive onset, shortening its reproductive in Characeae action potential (AP) comes not period and decreasing the frequency of oospore only from the internal stores but also from out- production. It seemed that salinity promotes side and formation of inositol triphosphate the presence of long-stalked antheridia. The re- (IP3) is probably involved in that process. In sponse of charophytes from shallow water bod- her second presentation Mary J. Beilby an- ies to global warming was presented by Maria swered questions about the reaction of proton A. Rodrigo (Spain) showing that stressors like pumps and H+/OH- channels participating in temperature, salinity, nitrate concentration, the pH banding pattern under salinity stress UVR etc. interact and that the charophyte re- and showed that the latter ones can be blocked sponses to climate change differ not only by 1 mM ZnCl2. Allan R. Chivas (Australia) among species, but show also intra-specific analysed the low molecular-weight compounds differentiations. The seasonal dynamics of within the thalli of charophytes and demon- primary production of charophytes was ana- strated that Chara has a remarkable organic lysed by Kaire Torn (Estonia) demonstrating chemistry, spanning the range of all marine al- that during mild winters Chara tomentosa is gae and terrestrial higher plants whereas not only able to exist, but also to produce. Lamprothamnium behaves as other submerged Elisabeth Lambert (France) analysed the veg- and floating-leaf aquatic plants. Margarete etation of saltmarshes from the French Atlantic Kalin (Canada) showed that charophytes can coast and demonstrated that Tolypella salina provide a solution for the removal of certain occurs only in habitats with regular drying pe- contaminants (e.g. uranium, radium) from alka- riods combined with changing salinities from line mine waste effluents. With apical growth brackish to hypersaline. A Polish-German pro- and basal decay, charophytes can stabilize sed- ject for the protection of charophyte lakes of iments and facilitate bio-mineralization pro- Lubuskie voivodship (Poland) and Branden- cesses. During her second presentation Mar- burg (Germany) regions was presented by An- garete Kalin provided a summary of the con- drzej Pukacz (Poland) demonstrating that centrations of elements in effluents of mining light conditions and proportions between for- waters and in the biomass of charophytes ests and industrialized areas in the catchment growing abundantly in effluent lakes or ponds basin are the key factors for the charophyte oc- showing that the relationship between the ele- currence and species richness. mental concentrations in the water and that in the biomass are remarkable. Analyses of subfossil charophyte oospores in the littoral part of the Curonian Lagoon were Anja Holzhausen and Petra Nowak presented by Zofija Sinkevičienė (Lithuania). (Germany) She showed that viable oospores were concen- trated mainly in the upper sediment layers, which partly can be explained by biological peculiarities of charophytes and hydrodynamic activities in the estuarine lagoon. Petra Nowak (Germany) analysed the recent macrophyte community of Baltic coastal waters in relation

Pre-Symposium Field Excursion Report: checked and identified by R.E. Romanov. As a results in context of regional charophyte result of this revision Chara connivens Salzm. knowledge ex A. Braun and C. filiformis A. Braun in Hertzsch must be excluded from the species list for North Kazakhstan because their records The presymposium excursion has been orga- were based on misidentified specimen of C. nized during 29-30th August on four lakes in aspera or voucher specimens are unknown North Kazakhstan, at the northern part of the (Table). Kazakh Uplands, known as Kokshetau Upland. Three of them, the freshwater lakes Burabay, All available records from the lakes visited Ulken Shabakty and Katarkol, are situated on have been summarized in the Table below. the territory of the State National Natural Park Nine species are known from Lake Zerendy, "Burabay". The fourth lake – oligohaline Lake six from Lake Katarkol, eight from Lake Ulken Zerendy - is a part of the Kokshetau State Na- Shabaky and seven from Lake Burabay. Inter- tional Nature Park. The last lake has been sur- annual water level fluctuation and associated veyed at two stations, 52.906111N 69.130333E changes of salinity and chemical composition (Fig. 2, page 33) and 52.936972N 69.134722E, of the water may be responsible for differences the first one also included shallow waters in species composition for Zerendy and Katar- which became a part of the lake due to high kol lakes in different years. The high species water level in 2016. The northern bay of Lake richness in individual water bodies as well as Burabay, 53.0876548N 70.2535879E, south- the presence of communities of Chara papil- western bay of Lake Ulken Shabakty (eastern losa and Nitellopsis obtusa which are very rare of peninsula, 53.09662688N 70.2579117E) and in North Kazakhstan highlight the importance south-eastern part of Lake Katarkol, of the lake visited for charophyte species con- 52.9545331N 70.4251099E (Fig. 3, page 33), servation in the region. have also been visited during our excursion. Several species collected during the excursion The determination workshop has been orga- are notable due to their comparatively limited nized in L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National distribution range. Chara altaica has been University in Astana during the symposium. found mainly in Central Asia; it is also known Nine species of Chara and Nitellopsis obtusa from the southern Ural, south of West Siberia, (Desv.) J. Groves have been found during our South Siberia, Mongolia, China and Japan (see excursion (see Table below). The most species- references in Romanov et al., 2014b). Chara rich was Lake Zerendy with nine species. Five neglecta has been reported from Central Asia species have been collected from Lake Katar- and also from North Kazakhstan, southern kol, three – in Lake Burabay and only one – in Ukraine and from the south of the European Lake Ulken Shabakty. Moreover Chara cf. ar- part of Russia (l.c.). Chara kirghisorum is cuatofolia Vilh., C. aspera Willd. and C. glob- known from South Ural in Russia, Kazakhstan, ularis Thuill. have been found in a small water Uzbekistan and Iran (Romanov, 2009; Ahmadi body near the second station on Lake Zerendy, et al., 2012). Chara arcuatofolia has been 52.938056N 69.136833E. found in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, China and South Siberia (Romanov, Kipriyanova, 2010). Charophytes were collected previously from the lakes visited and we have numerous species But one of the most remarkable findings was records for them (see Table below). Lakes waiting for us during the postsymposium ex- Katarkol and Ulken Shabakty are notable as a cursion in South Kazakhstan. Chara globata type locality of Chara locuples Hollerb. Mig. was found in Kapchagay Reservoir in the (Hollerbach, 1960). This is a haplostephanous vicinity of the dam, 43.9242259N morphotype of C. strigosa A. Braun occurring 77.1056986E, 03-ix-2016. This is a flagship with different frequency in distant populations species of arid and semiarid regions of West across the species distribution range; haplo- and Central Asia (Romanov et al., 2015), stephanous and diplostephanous stipulodes can which was known from water bodies within the both be present within the same plant (Lan- flooding area of Kapchagay Reservoir but not gangen, 2000; Romanov et al., 2014a). from the reservoir (Shoyakubov, 1979).

All specimens from the lakes visited are avail- Roman E. Romanov (Russia) and able in the Herbarium of the Komarov Botani- Aizhan Zhamangara (Kazakhstan) cal Institute of the Russian Academy of Sci- ence in Sankt-Petersburg (LE) and have been 11

Table. Species records from the lakes visited during presymposium excursion Species* Date Collector Reference Lake Zerendy (Zerenda) Chara altaica A. Braun in A. Braun et 20,21-vii- B.F. Sviridenko Sviridenko, 2000; Nordst., C. canescens Loisel., C. globularis 1986 Sviridenko, Sviridenko, Thuill. (as C. fragilis Desv.), C. tomentosa L., 2008 C. vulgaris L. C. altaica, C. aspera Willd., C. canescens, C. 17-ix-2015 R. Romanov, A. This report, contraria A. Braun ex Kütz., C. globularis, C. Zhamangara NS papillosa Kütz., C. tomentosa C. altaica, C. aspera, C. canescens, C. con- 29-viii-2016 Participants of 7th This report traria, C. globularis, C. neglecta Hollerb., C. IRGC Symposium papillosa, C. vulgaris, C. tomentosa Lake Katarkol (Kotyrkol) C. aspera, C. globularis 24,26-viii- L.A. Demchenko LE 1948 C. strigosa A. Braun (as C. locuples Hollerb., 25-viii-1948 L.A. Demchenko LE; Hollerbach, 1960; holotype) Hollerbach, Krassavina, 1983 C. aspera (also under C. connivens Salzm. ex 11-vii-1962 V.M. Katanskaya LE; Katanskaya, 1975 A. Braun) C. altaica, C. aspera, C. globularis, C. 15-ix-2015 R.E. Romanov, This report tomentosa A.K. Zhamangara C. altaica, C. aspera, C. globularis, C. 30-viii-2016 Participants of 7th This report kirghisorum Lessing em. Hollerb. ster., C. IRGC Symposium tomentosa Ulken Shabaky (Bolshoye Chebache) Chara cf. contraria, C. cf. globularis ster., C. 11,21-vi- unknown collec- LE kirghisorum, C. papillosa 1912 tor whose name was unreadable in field labels C. aspera, C. tomentosa 13-vii-1942, A.A. Richter, LE 24-vii-1942 N.N. Woronichin C. kirghisorum 1942-1943 N.N. Woronichin LE C. kirghisorum 24-v-1943 V.Schm. LE C. aspera 13-iv-1943, N.N. Woronichin LE 08-ii-1947 C. aspera, C. globularis (as C. fragilis), C. - L.A. Demchenko Demchenko, 1948 cit. strigosa ex. Krassavina 1968 C. kirghisorum, C. tomentosa, C. strigosa (as 06-08-viii- L.A. Demchenko LE; C. locuples, syntype), C. globularis, C. 1948 Hollerbach, 1960; Hol- contraria lerbach & Krassavina, 1983 C. aspera, C. kirghisorum, C. tomentosa 03-ix-1979 V.M. Katanskaya LE C. altaica, C. aspera, C. contraria, C. kir- 26, 28-30- B.F. Sviridenko Sviridenko, 2000; ghisorum, C. strigosa (as C. locuples), C. vii-1986 Sviridenko, Sviridenko, tomentosa 2008 C. aspera, C. tomentosa 15-ix-2015 R.E. Romanov, This report, NS A.K. Zhamangara C. tomentosa 30-viii-2016 Participants of 7th This report IRGC Symposium Species* Date Collector Reference Lake Burabay (Borovoe) C. globularis 04-vi-1943 V.Schm., N. LE Woronichin C. strigosa 1946 ˗ Dobrokhotova, 1953 C. aspera, C. globularis (as C. fragilis) 29,31-vii- L.A. Demchenko LE; Dobrokhotova, 1953 1947, 23- viii-1947 C. strigosa 30-viii-1947 Cherepalova LE C. globularis 23-viii-1948 L.A. Demchenko LE

Nitella flexilis (L.) C. Agardh 20-vi-1948 L.A. Demchenko LE C. filiformis A. Braun in Hertzsch ˗ ˗ Sviridenko, 2000** C. globularis, C. strigosa (under C. tenuispina 10-vii-1962 V.M. Katanskaya LE, Katanskaya, 1975 A. Braun) C. globularis 02-ix-1979 V.M. Katanskaya LE Nitellopsis obtusa (Desv.) J. Groves, C. globu- 31-vii-02- B.F. Sviridenko Sviridenko, 2000; Sviri- laris (as C. fragilis), C. strigosa (as C. viii-1986 denko, Sviridenko, 2008 locuples) N. obtusa, C. globularis, C. papillosa 15-ix-2015 R.E. Romanov, This report, NS A.K. Zhamangara N. obtusa, C. globularis, C. papillosa 30-viii-2016 Participants of 7th This report IRGC Symposium Notes: All studied specimens of Chara aspera belong to f. subinermis Kütz.*Synonyms and misidentifications reported in the cited references were noted. ** This is obviously an erroneous statement of B.F. Sviridenko (2000) because C. filiformis is absent in the reference cited by him (Katanskaya, 1975), therefore the true source of the cited data is unknown.

References on its total distribution. Aquilo, Series Bo- Ahmadi, A., Riahi, H., Sheidai, M. & van tanica 38: 1-12. Raam, J. (2012): Some charophytes (Chara- Romanov, R.E. (2009): Charophytes of the ceae, Charophyta) from Central and Western south [of the southern part] of the West- of Iran including Chara kohrangiana species Siberian Plain. Plant Life of Asian Russia nova. Cryptogamie, Algol. 33: 359-390. 1(3): 19-30 (in Russian with English ab- Demchenko, L.A. (1948): [Aquatic vegetation stract). of Lake Borovoe]. – Proc. State Nature Re- Romanov, R.E., Chemeris, E.V., Vishnyakov, serve „Borovoe“ 1: 52-61 (in Russian). V.S., Chepinoga, V.V., Azovskii, M.G., Dobrokhotova, K.V. (1953): [Charophytes in Kuklin, A.P. & Timofeeva, V.V. (2014a): coenoses of aquatic macrophytes]. – Proc. Chara strigosa (Streptophyta: Charales) in All-Union Hydrobiol. Soc. AS USSR 5: Russia. Botanicheskii Zhurnal 99(10): 1148– 258-263 (in Russian). 1161 (in Russian with English abstract). Hollerbach, M.M. (1950): [The systematic list Romanov, R.E., Gontcharov, A.A. & Barino- of charophytes found on USSR territory till va, S.S. 2015. Chara globata Mig. (Strepto- 1935 inclusively]. – Trudy Bot. Inst. Akad. phyta: Charales): rare species revised. Nauk SSSR. Ser. 2, Sporovye rasteniya 5: Fottea, Olomouc 15(1): 39-50. 20-94 (in Russian). Romanov, R.E. & Kipriyanova, L.M. (2010): Hollerbach, M.M. (1960): De speciebus novis Charophyte species diversity and distribu- generis Chara e sectione Haplostephanae tion on the south of the West-Siberian Plain. Triplostichae. Notulae Systematicae e Sec- Charophytes 2: 72-86. tione Cryptogamica Instituti Botanicic no- Romanov, R.E.; Zhakova, L.V.; Bazarova, mine V. L. komarovii Academiae Scientia- B.B. & Kipriyanova, L.M. (2014b): The rum URSS. 13: 101-107. (in Russian and La- charophytes (Charales, Charophyceae) of tin). Mongolia: a checklist and synopsis of locali- Hollerbach, M.M. & Krasavina, L.K. (1983): ties, including new records. Nova Hedwigia The charophytes – Charophyta. The Identifi- 98: 127-150. cation Manual of Freshwater Algae of Shoyakubov, R.Sh. (1979): Charophytes of USSR. 14. Nauka, Leningrad (in Russian). Uzbekistan. Fan, Tashkent. (in Russian). Katanskaya, V.M. (1975): [Aquatic vegetation Sviridenko, B.F. (2000): Flora and vegetation of plain Kazakhstan lakes in relation to in- of water bodies of Northern Kazakhstan. terdecadal variability of their state]. – Lakes Omsk (in Russian). of Kazakhstan and Kirghizia and their histo- Sviridenko, T.V. & Sviridenko, B.F. (2008): ry. P. 216-228. Nauka, Leningrad (in Rus- [The herbarium of charophytes (Charo- sian). phyta) in the Hydromorphic Ecosystem La- Krassavina, L.K. (1968): Bibliography of So- boratory of the Scientific Research Institute viet references for algae for 1941-1960. of the Natural Management and Ecology of Publ. Center AS USSR Library, Leningrad the North of the Surgut State University]. – (in Russian). Biol. Res. Ecosystem Exploitation 11: 64- Langangen, A. (2000): On the morphology 100 (in Russian). and ecology of Chara strigosa A. Braun (Charophyceae) in Scandinavia, with notes

Post-Symposium Fieldtrip Report: extant After a refreshing snack, we headed for the and fossil charophytes from South Kazakh- second stop where the thickness of the depos- stan its where mainly formed by white, mainly Miocene lacustrine claystones with some spo- The post-symposium fieldtrip on September radic limestones that contained large Nitellop- 3−5, 2016 was attended by a group of 19 peo- sis gyrogonites. There, Aizhan’s crew pre- ple from 9 countries and 4 continents, includ- pared a camp where we were pleased with a ing the participants and the organizers. The nice lunch and refreshments that helped us get field excursion started after a pleasant meal in back on track. the city of Almaty. Boarding a bus, we During the afternoon, we reached the top of a crossed the city seeing great palaces and closer plateau, where we made our last stop of parks, but also the building of the Museum of the day. From the plateau to the deeper parts Almaty among others. We soon enjoyed the of the valley we observed a very thick and views of the Alatau Mountains which form continuous sequence formed of humid/arid part of the Himalayan orogenic belt. In our sedimentary cycles as documented by the col- way to Basshyi village we discovered the our alternation of claystones in the succession. large and aromatic steppe of Artemisia that A closer view of the sediments allowed rec- aroused the interest of some of the partici- ognizing gyrogonites from genera Chara and pants by their resemblance with the Pleisto- Lychnothamnus, probably Pliocene in age cene European steppes. Later, an unexpected (Fig. 6, page 33). At the end of the day, this stop in the Kapshagay reservoir, located in a beautiful scenario was completed with pano- volcanic landscape, allowed courageous par- ramic views and we were accompanied with a ticipants to dive shortly into the waters in or- beautiful sunset in our way to Basshyi. There der to collect extremely nice specimens of we enjoyed a traditional dinner, served inside Chara globata (Fig. 4 page 33). a Yurta, which is a typical and cozy nomad Once we continued the trip, the wide steppes tent. gave rise to the semi-deserts and the moun- On the next day, our organizers gifted us with tains surrounding Altym-Emel State National a beautiful trip, full of geological and cultural Nature Park. We overnighted there, in the inputs, which helped us to understand better small town of Basshyi. the history of Kazakhstan. We boarded again After the first night, Aizhan and her nice crew our trucks and we headed south from Basshyi from the Institute of Geological Science of to the so called Singing Dune, a 120 meter Almaty, Saida Nigmatova, Madina Salmenova dune that emits a characteristic sound when and Nurgaly Shadaiev boarded us in an in- the sand moves. From the top of the dune we credible trip to the Aktau Mountains (“White observed a panoramic view of the Illy River Mountains” from Kazakh) where we made and the fluvial floodplain around it. several stops (Fig. 5, page 33). The name Before we returned to Almaty, we had the op- comes from the dominant colour of the very portunity to visit the Besshatyr (“five tents” thick continental deposits which can be ob- from Kazakh) archaeological site, formed by a served tens of kilometers away. These conti- complex of five burial mounds from the time nental deposits were dated from the Upper of Genghis Khan, and the surrounding stone Eocene up to the Miocene and contain an al- blocks bounding the mounds. most continuous sequence of lacustrine and sabkha deposits, formed by green, red and I would like to thank Aizhan Zhamangara, Sa- yellowish claystones with a reddish-white al- ida Nigmatova, Madina Salmenova and ternation of claystones and gypsum at the top. Nurgaly Shadaiev for organizing the excur- After a few steps, we observed with the hand sion, showing us the southern part of Kazakh- lenses the first fossil charophyte gyrogonites, stan and revealing us marvelous fossil charo- that were large and well-preseved enough for phyte localities. We also want to thank them us to identify Nitellopsis. The assemblage also for making this fieldtrip trip a funny and fa- contained Lychnothamnus, small Chara gy- miliar trip learning about the culture of the rogonites and perhaps Peckichara. Along with Kazakhs. Special thanks to Carles Martín- this charophyte remains some fossil macro- Closas for reviewing the text. remains of vascular plants were recognized too. Alba Vicente (Catalonia, Spain)

PUBLICATION OF THE PROCEED- The specific goal is to publish together a INGS 7TH IRGC, ASTANA review of good and bad practices in an ap- propriate journal and organise a workshop Special issue on charophytes in the Journal if needed and possible. "Botany Letters" If you are involved in such topics and inter- A Special Issue on charophytes is being pre- ested to participate in this working group, or if pared to publish the proceedings of our last you need more information, please contact IRGC meeting in Astana (Kazakhstan) as well Aurélie Boissezon (Dr) by e-mail: aure- as other papers related to living and fossil [email protected] charophytes. This will be the 8th special issue Present yourself (institution, main projects, on charophytes published by our association. main questions). Suggestions for topics are Twenty proposals of papers have been accept- warmly welcome! ed by the main editor of the journal Botany Letters (formerly Acta Botanica Gallica) and Aurélie Boissezon (Switzerland) can be already uploaded in the editorial system of this journal until the 31st May 2017, to start the revision process. Please do not wait SPECIAL ISSUE until the last minute to upload your manuscript! The invited editors to manage this Special issue are Carles Martín-Closas (coor- Botanica Serbica 40(2), a volume in honour dinator), Susi Schneider, Andrzej Pukacz and of Jelena Blaženčić Mary Beilby. The special issue should be sent to production before the end of the year and will be published in 2018.

Carles Martín-Closas (Catalonia, Spain)

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Stonewort management practices working group: call for participation

Preventing the extinction of stonewort species is a real challenge, for researchers and practi- tioners. Taxonomy, physiology, biogeography and ecology are the most studied areas. Alt- hough there is a relatively abundant literature dealing with these subjects, this is not the case for in situ and ex situ conservation techniques. Several of us have been asked to design and conduct efficient management plans for stoneworts. People (not many) are doing this in different places, in different ways but don’t In occasion of the 80th birthday of our dear have the opportunity to tell each other about colleague Jelena Blaženčić a special issue of this. the Open Access journal Botanica Serbica was devoted to freshwater algae, the aquatic mac- Hence, to improve stonewort conservation rophytes and fungi. The volume is exquisitely projects, there is an urgent need to share edited and illustrated with high quality pic- and gather our practical charophyte man- tures. The first paper by Branka Stevanović, agement experience (in situ and ex situ). who was one of the editors, is an analysis of The goal of this group is to open a discussion the academic biography of Jelena. A number /forum and review available information with of contributions were specifically devoted to interested people from different parts of the charophytes. A. Alegro and coauthors revisit world. the macrophytic vegetation of lake Vrana at

Cres, one of the Croatian islands in the N- When I searched Web of Science on January Adriatic, after 50 years of the last conspectus. 17 using the search criteria “Chara” and The flora that includes Chara aculeolata, C. “2016”, I got 87 hits. As usual, “Chara” is ma- virgata and Nitella opaca was negatively af- liciously hijacked by astrophysics, but there fected by the over-explotation of the water of still were quite many interesting publications this oligotrophic lake. S. Trajanovski and on “our” (= the real) Chara. Several of the colls. presented a study on the role of the mac- papers I found dealt with calcification/carbon, rophytes to structure the macrozoobenthos. It and several others with molecular biolo- comes out that the meadows dominated by gy/genetics, but there also were many on charophytes but mixed with some angio- “miscellaneous” topics. I can only present a sperms were the most attractive habitats for very small selection of the papers here, and molluscs, insects and annelids. C. Martín- there were many more interesting publica- Closas and colls. provide a synthesis of the tions. Please accept my apologies if you are studies on fossil charophytes from the Iberian one of those who’s paper is not presented Peninsula. The records last from the Jurassic here. to the Recent, and represent one of the Pukacz et al. (a) studied the month-to-month hotspots for the study of charophyte paleon- variability and CaCO3 precipitation in dense tology in Europe. A. Langangen describes and charophyte beds of a shallow lake over one analyses biogeographically the occurrence of vegetation period. They found that CaCO3 Chara vulgaris f. longibracteata in nine precipitation was higher in shallow (1m) than springs from the Greek Island of Amorgos in in deeper water (3m), that charophyte dry the Aegean. M. Rodrigo and J.L. Alonso- weight may exceed 2 kg/m2, and that the Ca- Guillén provide a synthesis about the charo- CO3 content may exceed 80% of the dry phyte flora from the Albufera de València weight. These really are enormous amounts, Natural Park in Spain. Up to 15 species were and they mean that charophytes should signif- distributed in different habitats such as rice icantly influence the biogeochemical cycling fields, springs, channels, interdunal ponds or in lakes with dense Chara beds. In a second constructed wetlands. R. Romanov & S. Bari- publication, Pukacz et al. (b) analysed differ- nova documented the species of Nitella from ent species from different lakes, and found Israel highlighting that they represent an im- that C. tomentosa generally had a higher Ca- poverished version of the Euroasiatic Nitella. CO3 content than C. globularis. However, I. Soulié-Märsche & S.D. Muller report new how high the CaCO3 content exactly was, dif- findings of Chara oedophylla in Tunisia. The fered between the studied lakes. This means differences between this species and C. vul- that – even if it is possible to roughly “guess- garis a include sejoined gametangia, large an- timate” CaCO3 content for a certain Chara theridia and vertically geminate oogonia. Fi- species, the exact content will vary from lake nally A. Vesić and colls. revisit the charo- to lake. So we’d better be careful when esti- phyte flora of Vojvodina (Serbia) 20 years af- mating CaCO3 budgets for lakes. Results from ter the first appraisal. Up to 20 species were Kufel at al. agree with this. They analysed reported and their distribution in maps is ana- calcite and phosphorus fractions in six charo- lysed from the conservational viewpoint. phyte species, and found that calcite encrusta- The papers of this issue may be freely action was highest in C. rudis and C. tomentosa, cessed at and lowest in C. globularis and C. intermedia. http://botanicaserbica.bio.bg.ac.rs/2016_40_ With respect to phosphorus, all analysed spe- 2.html cies accumulated more inorganic than organic phosphorus, but the amount of calcium-bound

phosphorus differed among species. This Carles Martín-Closas (Catalonia, Spain) means that charophytes are capable of accu-

mulating quite large amounts of calcium car-

bonate and phosphorus (bound to calcium) in REFERENCE ARTICLE lake sediments, but the exact amount will vary among species. What’s new about Chara? A short over- Pronin et al. analysed stable isotope ratios in view over some interesting charophyte C. tomentosa and C. globularis, and found studies published in 2016 that C. tomentosa had less negative delta-C13 values than C. globularis. This means that C. tomentosa was enriched in C13 compared to 16

C. globularis, even if the delta C13 in the lake cold season), while the others had not. Pukacz water DIC (dissolved inorganic carbon) right et al. (a) observed the highest CaCO3 content above the charophyte stands did NOT differ in August, and August is probably not “the between the two species. In addition, there cold season”. So, more CaCO3 precipitation in were indications that C. tomentosa just may summer may explain why Rodrigo et al. found grab “any” DIC molecule that is passing by in less negative delta C13 values in summer than the water, without paying too much attention in winter. However, charophyte rhizoids were whether it is C12 or C13, while C. globularis more C13 enriched than other parts. This does was pickier, and preferentially takes up the not really match with the explanation provid- light isotope. This could indicate that the rela- ed by Pronin et al. who argue that the near- tively short C. globularis preferentially takes bottom water is usually enriched with C12 up carbon from waters near the bottom of the (and not C13), because it partly is derived lake rather than from the well-mixed water from decomposition of organic matter in the above the stands. The near-bottom water is surface sediment. On the other hand, Rodrigo usually enriched with C12, because it partly is et al. also found that the delta C13 in the sed- derived from decomposition of organic matter iment varied throughout time. Clearly, some in the surface sediment. In contrast, the much puzzle pieces are still missing before we real- larger C. hispida stands seem to take up more ly understand carbon assimilation and precipi- carbon from the well mixed water above the tation in charophytes. charophyte stands. In my view, this also may A second group of papers dealt with charo- have something to do with the amount of cal- phyte molecular biology/genetics. Domozych cification. It turned out that the delta C13 of et al. remind us of the fact that in North carbonates was much less negative than the America, the term “charophytes” is used dif- delta C13 of organic carbon. Given that C. ferently than in Europe. They also classify tomentosa is more calcified than C. globu- taxa such as Micrasterias, Penium and Cole- laris, it is quite plausible that C. tomentosa ochaete as charophytes, which is not common generally had a less negative delta C-13 than practice in Europe. Nevertheless, their mini- C. globularis. I have no scientific background review on the evolution of charophytes and on that whatsoever, but in my opinion this their use as model organisms is interesting should indicate that the organic carbon has ac- reading. tively been taken up into the plant (and the Lee et al. collected the first specimen of C. light isotope has been preferred in this pro- zeylanica in Korea since 40 years. They ana- cess), while the CaCO3 precipitation on the lysed rbcL sequences, and found that the se- plant is a result of a passive process (and quences from Korea were identical to those of therefore there occurs no selection for a par- C. zeylanica from Central America, the USA, ticular isotope). But I am not sure I am cor- China, Japan, and Israel, but differed from se- rect, so I would be happy to receive your quences of species from New Caledonia, Tai- comments on this. wan, Sri Lanka, and Australia by one to two Anyway, things are not so easy (as always). basepairs. Unfortunately, things have a ten- Rodrigo et al. analysed isotopic signatures in dency to get more complicated the closer you three charophytes (C. hispida, Nitella hyalina look. Schneider et al. analysed a less con- and Tolypella glomerata) and in Myriophyl- servative gene than rbcL (matK) in no less lum spicatum monthly during a whole year. than 324 Chara samples collected from 19 They also separately analysed different plant countries. They were unable to consistenly re- parts (apical nodes, internodes, rhizoids, re- solve the so-called “Chara hispida group”, productive organs, oospores), and measured and proposed that at least C. hispida, C. rudis delta C13 in the sediment where the plants and C. polyacantha are conspecific. Surpris- were rooted. They found that Myriophyllum ingly, the same seems to be true for C. virgata was most enriched in C13. Among the charo- and C. strigosa, as well as – perhaps less sur- phytes, C. hispida had the least negative delta prisingly - for C. liljebladii, C. horrida and C. C13 values, followed by Tolypella and Nitel- baltica. This means that morphological traits la. This fits with the above results by Pronin may indeed be practically useful for the day- et al., since the Chara will have more CaCO3 to-day work with Chara, but we should be ex- (which is less negative in its delta C13) than tremely careful in using them. Species which Tolypella or Nitella. It may also explain the have been described based on morphology fact that C. hispida showed a significant sea- should always be confirmed with genetic data. sonal variation (with C13-poor values in the Some morphological variability must be ac- 17 cepted in a species, and a few shorter or long- But let us leave the genetics for now and con- er spines, or more or less spines, may not be a tinue to the “miscellaneous” topics. Blindow sufficient argument for describing an extra et al. published a very interesting study on the species. long-term and interannual changes in compo- Nowak et al. used five barcode markers, and sition of submerged vegetation, diaspore res- arrived at a similar conclusion than Schneider ervoir and germination in a lagoon system in et al. They also were NOT able to separate C. the Baltic Sea. Vegetation cover today was contraria from C. filiformis, or C. rudis from similar to 1932, despite a period of eutrophi- C. hispida. In contrast, C. vulgaris was clearly cation between about 1960 and 1990. Species different from C. contraria, even though these dominance shifted, however, from small char- two sometimes are hard to tell apart (and the ophytes to larger species like Potamogeton same is true for C. globularis and C. virgata, pectinatus. The occurrence of many oospores by the way). In contrast to Schneider et al., in a sediment, however, does not mean that Nowak et al. did indeed manage to separate C. they also will germinate. For example, Blin- baltica /horrida from C. hispida /rudis/ inter- dow et al. found numerous Tolypella oo- media. This should indicate that the brackish spores, which probably originated from a dis- water group indeed may have differentiated crete period with high abundance during the from the freshwater group, only not (yet) far. 1950s, but they seem to have completely Nowak et al. also managed to separate C. in- failed to germinate. Interannual changes in termedia from C. hispida/rudis. However, in vegetation were explained by weather condi- this case I would be careful, because Schnei- tions, and this was most obvious in C. ca- der et al. also could see two sub-groups within nescens. This annual species seems to be fa- the large “C. hispida” group, but by analysing voured by extensive winter ice cover. I would some 150 samples in this group it became say, this is bad news in the face of climate clear that these two sub-groups did NOT change. Blindow et al. concluded that charo- match with current taxonomy. In other words: phytes were outcompeted by larger angio- C. intermedia was in BOTH sub-groups, but it sperms due to the combined effect of moder- was more common in one then in the other. ate eutrophication and climate change. And this means it could very well have been Laguna et al. did an interesting study on the coincidence that the two C. intermedia sam- effect of invasive fish on the decline of Chara ples analysed by Nowak et al. were different sp. in the floodplain of a national park in from the four C. hispida/rudis samples. In this Spain. By setting up exclosures, they could case, I advocate analysing more samples. show that fish (common carp) explained the Noedoost et al. analysed the karyotypes of absence of charophytes. In fact, I have seen eight Chara species collected in Iran and the same thing in the Osterseen lakes in Ger- found two different ploidy levels (n = 14 and many, many years ago. Inside simple exclo- n = 28). So far so nice, but the “problem” is sures which excluded carp and other fishes that the number of chromosomes was not sta- but allowed free exchange of water and pas- ble in a species. For example, some samples sage of small organisms, the charophytes of C. vulgaris had 14, but others 28 chromo- started to grow. Also the Osterseen are a pro- somes. The same was true for C. contraria, tected area, but somehow we never dared to which also contained some specimen with 14 confront the fishermen with our findings. In and others with 28 chromosomes. One could contrast, the results by Laguna et al. led the imagine that the different number of chromo- National Park managers to begin the control somes affects Chara morphology … but again of invasive fish as an urgent measure to assure it is not so easy. Noedoost et al. analysed C. the ecological conservation of this Mediterra- vulgaris var. vulgaris, C. vulgaris var. longi- nean wetland. This is really good news! bracteata, and C. gymnophylla (which accord- And there is more hope, at least for some ing to Schneider et al. (2016) is genetically so charophytes. Kornijow et al. found an increase closely related to either C. vulgaris or C. con- in charophytes in a lowland lake in Poland. traria that it probably rather is a variety than a This lake was never dominated by phyto- species). It indeed turned out that specimen plankton in the last centuries. They found that containing 14 and 28 chromosomes occurred first, the lake was dominated by floating- in each of these varieties!!!! I find this really leaved vegetation at strongly reduced water puzzling, and there clearly is quite a lot with levels. Starting from the mid-nineteenth cen- respect to Chara chromosomes and Chara ge- tury, probably as a result of climate fluctua- netics which we do not yet fully understand. tions, vegetation switched at first to sub- 18 merged angiosperms, and then, in the second observed when the turgor of the victim cell half of the twentieth century, towards charo- was decreased by adding methanol to the me- phytes. Within charophytes there were dium. Shimmen et al. suggest that it is the switches between C. globularis and C. vulgar- sudden disappearance of the turgor pressure in is communities, depending on lake productivi- one cell, which triggers the sharp spike in the ty or hydrological stress. Kornijow et al. con- neighbouring cell. In this way, a Chara cell cluded that within a longer period with clear can send a “death message” to its neighbour- water, the community of macro-vegetation ing cell. can be highly dynamic. This may be a re- Romanov and Bulionkova published an inter- sponse to different productivity levels and/or esting note on the observation of C. vulgaris hydrological stress. in a “terrestrial” habitat. C. vulgaris had a Sooksawat et al. studied whether dried C. acu- moss-like habit and grew on wet soil in small leolata and Nitella opaca could remove lead compact turfs probably germinated from oo- (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn) from syn- spores. The upper branchlets were curved in a thetic solutions and municipal wastewater. hook-liked manner and convergent above the They found that the Chara took up slightly apex of the thallus (which is what many Cha- more heavy metals than the Nitella, and that ra species do in order to protect themselves the metals seemed to adsorb in a monolayer to from too much light). Many years ago, we ob- the charophyte surface. This also means that served something similar in France (together there occurs an antagonistic interaction when with Ingeborg). Such “terrestrial” charophytes several metals are present: the more of the really look amazing, you almost feel you can one, the less of the other can be adsorbed. “watch” how charophytes colonized the land They concluded that charophyte biomass may and how the evolution towards land plants be- be considered for the treatment of metal con- gan. tamination in municipal wastewater. This Volkmann et al. studied the uptake of dis- seems fair enough to me, but I am left won- solved inorganic nitrogen (DIN, ammonium dering from where they want to collect the and nitrate) and dissolved organic nitrogen large amounts of dried charophytes which (DON, amino-acid mixture) in C. aspera, C. probably are necessary for treating tomentosa, and Potamogeton pectinatus from wastewater. water and sediment. They used a two- But living charophytes may indeed be useful compartment-device and 15N labelling to dis- for removing various chemicals from waters criminate between the roles of roots and (by the way, the removal of chemicals is a so- shoots in nitrogen uptake. The results showed called ecosystem service). Grung et al. studied that DON and DIN were taken up by all spe- the uptake and degradation of pyrene, a poly- cies, but ammonium was preferred over amino cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) which is acids which were preferred over nitrate. While relatively common in the environment (be- nitrate and ammonium were translocated in cause it is formed during incomplete combus- basipetal and acropetal directions in both tion of organic compounds). It turned out that charophytes, no transport was detected in Po- pyrene entered into the cytoplasm of C. rudis tamogeton pectinatus. Volkmann et al. state (which shows that PAHs indeed can get into that they found the transport in Chara unex- algal cells), and was degraded there, first to 1- pected, given the lack of vascular bundles. I OH-pyrene, presumably by the Chara itself. personally find it is rather the other way On the cortex, however, pyrene was degraded round: Chara is known for its very intense cy- faster and further, probably at least partly by toplasmic streaming, and it is known that this microorganisms living on the Chara. General- contributes to the transport of solutes in Cha- ly, the degradation of pyrene was faster when ra. But actually, other submerged macro- conditions were warmer and there was more phytes such as Potamogeton pectinatus are al- light (resembling conditions in the epilimni- so capable of transporting nutrients from roots on), than at colder and darker conditions (re- to shoots. So I find it strange that this did not sembling deeper parts of a lake). happen in the experiment performed by Shimmen et al. studied how neighbouring Volkmann and co-workers. Anyway, it is cer- cells of C. corralina communicate with each tainly important to remember that organic ni- other. If they killed one cell by severing, the trogen may indeed be taken up (but not trans- neighbouring cell - which was not injured - ported) by Chara and by Potamogeton pecti- generated a sharp spike followed by a long- natus. This means that by measuring only in- lasting depolarization. A similar effect was 19

organic nitrogen we underestimate the nutri- morphological characters of three Swedish ent pool which is available to macrophytes. Chara sections: Chara, Grovesia, and As you see, many interesting findings on Desvauxia (Charales, Charophyceae). charophytes were published in 2016, and Aquatic Botany 134, 113-119. IRGC members contributed to many of them. Pronin, E., Pelechaty, M., Apolinarska, K., I am happy to see the IRGC so active, and I Pukacz, A., Frankowski, M. (2016). Sharp wish you all good luck with the publications differences in the delta C-13 values of or- you are planning in 2017. ganic matter and carbonate encrustations but not in ambient water DIC between two mor- Susi Schneider (Norway) phologically distinct charophytes. Hydrobio- References logia 773, 177-191. Blindow, I., Dahlke, S., Dewart, A., Flugge, S., Pukacz, A., Pelechaty, M., Frankowski, M. Hendreschke, M., Kerkow, A., Meyer, J. (2016a) Depth-dependence and monthly var- (2016). Long-term and interannual changes of iability of charophyte biomass production: submerged macrophytes and their associated consequences for the precipitation of calci- diaspore reservoir in a shallow southern Baltic um carbonate in a shallow Chara-lake. Envi- Sea bay: influence of eutrophication and cli- ronmental Science and Pollution Research mate. Hydrobiologia 778, 121-136. 23, 22433-22442. Domozych, D. S., Popper, Z. A., Sorensen, I. Pukacz, A. Pelechaty, M., Frankowski, M., (2016). Charophytes: Evolutionary Giants and Pronin, E. (2016b). Dry weight and calcium Emerging Model Organisms. Frontiers in carbonate encrustation of two morphologi- Plant Science 7, Article Number 1470. cally different Chara species: a comparative Grung, M., Ruus, A., Schneider, S.C., Hjer- study from different lakes. Oceanological mann, D.O., Borga, K. (2016). Toxicokinet- and Hydrobiological Studies 45, 377-387. ics of pyrene in the freshwater alga Chara Rodrigo, M. A., Garcia, A., Chivas, A. rudis. Chemosphere 157, 49-56. (2016). Carbon stable isotope composition Kornijow, R., Kowalewski, G., Sugier, P., of charophyte organic matter in a small and Kaczorowska, A., Gasiorowski, M., shallow Spanish water body as a baseline for Woszczyk, M. (2016). Towards a more pre- future trophic studies. Journal of Limnology cisely defined macrophyte-dominated re- 75, 226-235. gime: the recent history of a shallow lake in Romanov, R.E., Bulionkova, T.S. (2016). Re- Eastern Poland. Hydrobiologia 772, 45-62. search Note: Observations on a terrestrial Kufel, L., Strzalek, M., Biardzka, E. (2016). charophyte in a temperate environment. Site- and species-specific contribution of Phycological Research 64, 118-120. charophytes to calcium and phosphorus cy- Schneider, S.C., Nowak, P., von Ammon, U., cling in lakes. Hydrobiologia 767, 185-195. Ballot, A. (2016). Species differentiation in Laguna, C., Lopez-Perea, J.J., Vinuela, J., the genus Chara (Charophyceae): considera- Florin, M., Feliu, J., Chicote, A., Cirujano, ble phenotypic plasticity occurs within ho- S., Mateo, R. (2016). Effects of invasive fish mogenous genetic groups. European Journal and quality of water and sediment onmacro- of Phycology 51, 282-293. phytes biomass, and their consequences for Shimmen, T., Ogata, K., Yanagihara, N., Yo- the waterbird community of a Mediterranean shihisa, T. (2016). Electrical Perception of floodplain. Science of the Total Environ- "Death Message" in Chara: The Role of ment 551, 513-521. Turgor Pressure. Cytologia 81, 242-247. Lee, E.Y., Choi, K. C., Lee, S. R., Kim, Y. H., Sooksawat, N., Meetam, M., Kruatrachue, M., See, J. E., Kim, J. H. (2016). Re- Pokethitiyook, P., Inthorn, D. (2016). Equi- examination of the morphological character- librium and kinetic studies on biosorption istics and rbcL gene sequences of Chara potential of charophyte biomass to remove zeylanica Willdenow (Charales, Charo- heavy metals from synthetic metal solution phyceae) in Korea. Aquatic Botany 134, 97- and municipal wastewater. Bioremediation 102. Journal 20, 240-251. Noedoost, F., Sheidai, M., Riahi, H., Ahmadi, Volkmann, C., Halbedel, S., Voss, M., Schu- A. (2016). Karyotype analysis in some Cha- bert, H. (2016). The role of dissolved organ- ra species (Charales, Charophyceae) in Iran. ic and inorganic nitrogen for growth of mac- Caryologia 69, 162-169. rophytes in coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. Nowak, P., Schubert, H., Schaible, R. (2016). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Molecular evaluation of the validity of the Ecology 477, 23-30. 20

REPORT INTRODUCTION by the authors (which can include errors, misidentifications, mis-spellings or incorrect au- Joaquim J, Schwarzer A, Bétrisey S, thorities). Fragnière Y, Kozlowski G. 2016. Charace- We have completed the digitization of all the ae of the canton of Fribourg – Inventory charophyte sheets in our Collection but not all 2015-2016 (in French). Natural History genera are represented: there are 36 genera, Museum Fribourg (NHMF), Switzerland, 493 species names, 152 original figures and pp. 28. 134 type diagnoses now within the 1198 digitized images. Although most species have just This report presents all Characeae species ob- one or two sheets, there are 29 sheets of Cha- served so far in the Canton of Fribourg (Swit- ra globularis illustrations and 36 of Chara zerland). It combines results of intensive field vulgaris; 22 of Nitella gracilis and 33 of Ni- surveys carried out during the last two years tella furcata. (2015-2016) with all available historical rec- Before photography, the sheets were checked ords (herbaria, literature, etc.). Altogether, 15 and species data recorded on an excel spread- Characeae species were detected, representing three genera: Chara (11 species), Nitella (3) sheet. We have tried to make corrections, especially of the more bizarre errors! We re- and Nitellopsis (1). One of the main highlights placed some microfilm prints which were dif- was the rediscovery of Nitella tenuissima, a ficult to read. We also to replace Plates in taxon considered to be extinct in Switzerland. publications where Professor Fritsch had cut Additionally, three species were observed for the first time in the Canton of Fribourg: Chara up the reprint he received. denudata, C. virgata and Nitella opaca. The Sadly we do not yet have a website to allow report is available in PDF format (only in researchers to see them, although we have French version) on the webpage of the Natural made out a grant application. However we History Museum Fribourg (http://www.fr.ch/ can email specific copies to those who need mhn/fr/pub/projets/milieux_aquatiques.htm). them.

Gregor Kozlowski (Switzerland) Dr Elizabeth Y. Haworth Curator: Fritsch Collection of Algal Illustra- tions. IMAGES COLLECTION Freshwater Biological Association, Images of the charophytes in the Fritsch Ferry Landing, Far Sawrey, Collection of Freshwater, Brackish and Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 0LP, UK Terrestrial Algal Illustrations [email protected] www.fba.org.uk/fritsch-collection The Algal Reference Collection begun by Pro- fessor F.E.Fritsch in 1912, to compare the dif- ANNOUNCEMENT ferent illustrations of algal species in the scientific literature, has been of use to many over A book about the Charophytes of Europe the years. He used to beg for two reprint copies so that he could use one for filing his spe- We believe it is time for a European Mono- cies but not all colleagues obliged! The Col- graph. lection was left to the Freshwater Biological After the IRGC meeting in Astana, a group of Association on his death. It has been updated enthusiasts therefore met in Berlin last year ever since and is now slowly being digitized. December and mid March in Leiden and scheduled a potential scenario, how such a The total Collection comprises over 100,000 product could be prepared – now we have a foolscap sheets with up to 30 author refer- kind of preliminary structure, a schedule and a enced illustrations, including varieties and kind of a taxa list. Nothing of them is fixed forms, on one sheet. The layout follows yet, but we guess we are prepared to start a Fritsch’s overall algal classification in his broader discussion. ‘Structure and reproduction of the Algae’ The main question we want to address to you (1935, 1945) with subdivisions, of which the is: we would be very grateful if you would charophytes is one. Within each subgroup, join the team responsible for gathering bioge- the genera and species are filed alphabetically ographical (distribution) data of European and all taxa are filed by species as published 21 species as well as preparing species descrip- On November 23th, 2015, Li Sha defended tions. her thesis in front of the jury composed of The work will be distributed in a way that Prof. SHA Jingeng, Prof. LU Huinan, Prof. lead authors for each species are guiding the FENG Hongzhen, Prof. LI Yue and Prof. work of all colleagues who know about the re- JIANG Baoyu. Among them, Prof. FENG and spective species – but with respect to author- Prof. JIANG are from the Nanjing University, ship, the lead authors are just honoured by be- and three other professors are from the Nan- ing “first author” of the respective chapter – jing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, everyone contributing substantially by provid- Chinese Academy of Sciences. ing distribution overviews, checking herbari- Charophyte floras from the Upper Cretaceous um records etc. will be offered co-authorship. and Paleocene formations in the Pingyi Basin Because we expect also that field work is still (Shandong Province, Eastern China) and necessary to answer some of the open ques- Songliao Basin (NE China) are studied in this tions with respect to distribution as well as thesis. In the Pingyi Basin, the mainly latest taxonomic issues of phenology and morphol- Campanian–Maastrichtian charophyte flora is ogy, the whole project will take about 3 years composed of up to 7 species, Feistiella from now. anluensis, Peckichara praecursoria, Micro- Therefore, we want to start as soon as possi- chara cristata, M. cf. nana, Chara sp., ble. Lamprothamnium ellipticum and Mesochara We would be very grateful if you could bring voluta, while the mainly Paleocene flora con- in your expertise in this project. sists of only two species, Peckichara varians This request is not reserved to the European and Sphaerochara parvula. These floras con- colleagues only. We are sure the input of peo- tain regional elements as well as species with ple from the other continents is needed to a Eurasiatic distribution, the latter allowing make this project a success. for comparison at a larger palaeogeographic In case you agree, we will provide you with scale. Although the charophyte assemblages more details in mid-April. But in case of fur- from Pingyi are species-poor, many species ther requests, don’t hesitate to ask. show a high degree of polymorphism with in- To gather your (hopefully positive) answer – termediate forms in a number of morphotypes. please reply to Hendrik Schubert: [email protected] The environment was not uniform within the In case of queries / need for more information Pingyi Basin. In Late Cretaceous, Microchara etc. you are free to ask any of the initiators cristata, M. cf. nana and Peckichara praecur- (mentioned in alphabetical order), who are soria grew in carbonate lakes under the fluvial wishing you all the best: context of a braided river. Lamprothamnium ellipticum and Mesochara voluta inhabited in Emile Nat (Netherlands) overbank ponds of a braided river and Uwe Raabe (Germany) Feistiella anluensis thrived in brackish water Roman Romanov (Russia) carbonate lakes. In the Paleocene, Peckichara Hendrik Schubert (Germany) varians was dominant in shallow carbonate Nick Stewart (Great Britan) lakes. Taking into account these morphological, palaeoecological and facies constraints, the charophyte biozonation of the latest Cam- PhD THESIS COMPLETION panian–Paleocene developed by Lu in Zhang et al. (2014) is revised. The biozonation pro- LI Sha, University of Chinese Academy of posed here consists of two biozones based on Sciences; Nanjing Institute of Geology and two index species with a Eurasian distribution Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences that are well dated in Europe: Microchara cristata (uppermost Campanian–lower Dani- Supervisors: ZHANG Haichun, WANG Qifei, an) and Peckichara varians (upper Danian– Carles MARTÍN-CLOSAS lowermost Eocene). PhD thesis title: Late Cretaceous–Paleocene In the Songliao Basin, the middle Campa- charophyte floras from the Pingyi Basin nian–Maastrichtian charophyte flora is com- and Songliao Basin of China and their bio- posed of up to 12 species, Microchara leio- stratigraphic significance carpa, Lychnothamnus yuntaishanensis, Atopochara trivolvis ulanensis, Lamprotham- nium ellipticum, Mesochara biacuta, M. volu- 22 ta, Microchara gobica, M. cristata, M. pro- cies Sphaerochara parvula. In fact, some of lixa, Nodosochara Turbochara specialis, these species are widely distributed in Eura- Nemegtichara prima and Sphaerochara par- sia. They are very important for correlations vula. The Paleocene subzone also consists of among different basins. 9 species. Besides Microchara cristata, M. Li Sha and Wang Qifei (China) prolixa and Sphaerochara parvula coming Anastasiia Kovtun-Kante, Estonian Marine from the underlying deposits, 6 species newly Institute, University of Tartu appeared including Grovesichara chang- Supervisors: Kaire Torn and Ülo Suursaar zhouensis, Lychnothamnus vectensis, Sphaerochara jacobii, Collichara tai- PhD thesis title: Charophytes of the Estoni- zhouensis and Peckichara (before as Neo- an inland and coastal waters: distribution chara) sinulata. The biozonation proposed and environmental preferences here consists of four biozones and one unde- On 10 December 2015 Anastasiia Kovtun- fined zone that are well dated according to the Kante defended her PhD thesis at the Faculty GPTS: Undefined zone (middle Campanian), of Science and Technology, University of Atopochara trivolvis ulanensis zone (late Tartu. An independent specialist in the person Campanian but latest Campanian not includ- of Mariusz Pełechaty acted as opponent. ed), Microchara gobica zone (latest Campa- nian–early Maastrichtian), Microchara prolixa The dissertation was published as a summaris- zone (late Maastrichtian) and Grovesichara ing article, compiling 3 research publications changzhouensis zone (earlymost Danian). previously published in the international peer- Within the Songliao Basin, the sedimentaty reviewed scientific journals. environment is unifoim from mid-Campanian The main problem considered in the thesis is to early Paleocene, growing in flooded ponds the absence of compiled information of char- and lakes belonging to the meandering river ophyte species that could be found in Estonian and shallow lakes. waters mainly due to lack or outdated infor- The comparison of biozones of the Pingyi Ba- mation about freshwater charophyte species. sin with those of the Songliao Basin suggests This, in turn caused absence of general infor- the following two conclusions. On the one mation on rare and common species, their en- hand, the two floras from the two basins are vironmental preferences and factors that influ- different probably due to different paleogeog- ence the distribution of charophytes. To fill raphy and environments. In the Late Cre- this gap and give an overview of charophyte taecous, geographically, Atopochara trivolvis species present in Estonia and their distribu- ulanensis was only found in the Songliao Ba- tion in both coastal and inland waters, more sin and adjacent areas such as Inner Mongolia than 11000 locations (including over 300 in- and Mongolia. Ecologically, the brackish spe- land locations) were investigated. The poten- cies Feistiella anluensis inhabitated the Pingyi tial suitable habitats in coastal waters were Basin but did not live in the Songliao Basin predicted based on available georeferenced without brackish water sediments. In the environmental data. In addition, the recovery Paleocene, the difference between the two flo- ability of charophyte communities was as- ras increased mainly due to totally different sessed though light manipulation experiments. environments. In the Songliao Basin, a diverse 22 charophyte species from the genera Chara, flora consisting of Microchara cristata, M. Nitella, Tolypella and Nitellopsis were found prolixa, Lychnothamnus vectensis, Sphaero- in Estonian waters. 17 species were recorded chara parvula, S. jacobii, Collichara tai- from freshwater bodies, 7 species occurred in zhouensis, Grovesichara changzhouensis and marine brackish water. Most freshwater char- Peckichara sinulata thrived in flooded lakes, ophyte species were found in hard or moder- while in the Pingyi Basin the flora was domi- ately hard water. As a rule, the preferred sub- nant by Peckichara varians inhabiting in car- strate type was mud. The amount of organic bonate lacustrine environments with little ter- matter content in the water bodies where rigenous inputs. On the other hand, the two freshwater charophytes were found showed basins also share the same species, such as that charophytes preferred water bodies with a Lamprothamnium ellipticum and Mesochara low to moderate organic matter content, voluta in the Late Cretaceous and Microchara which refers to a relatively good water quali- cristata in Late Cretaceous to Paleocene. In ty. Still, many species could also survive in the Paleocene, the two basins shared the spe- waters with high organic matter content. 23

Brackish-water species were mostly restricted sertation is an attempt to gather more to the shallow, sheltered, soft-bottom archi- knowledge on their floristic richness, distribu- pelago environments, found especially in tion and ecology. Primarily, historical records western Estonia. Analysis of the occurrence were collected from all available literature and pattern in relation to environmental data re- herbarium data on charophytes in Serbia, one vealed that the most important factors influ- overall database was made and preliminary encing charophyte distribution in brackish wa- ecological analyses were done. Moreover, de- ter environment are depth, substrate properties tailed field investigations, covering more than and exposure to waves. In combination with 250 localities, were conducted on the territory interrelated light and attachment conditions of Vojvodina, in the period between 2012 and (via substrate type) these factors defined geo- 2014. The localities were selected in order to graphical patterns of charophyte communities. achieve a balanced geographical and ecologi- Among the other things, charophytes showed cal coverage of the study area. The charophyte a good adaptation and recovery ability in a and macrophyte coverage was studied and da- short-period low light environment. ta regarding 16 ecological parameters were gathered. Additionally, each locality was Probable occurrence of Chara spp. likely characterized with 20 bioclimatic parameters. might be predicted by depth in the area, wave exposure and the proportion of soft sediment. Altogether, in the flora of Vojvodina, the The reliability of the modelled results in rela- charophytes are represented with 20 species, tion to real Chara distribution patterns makes which can be considered as significant floris- the predicted occurrences map a powerful tool tic richness, given that it represents about 45% for the general assessment of the distribution of Balkan flora. Species belonging to four of species of interest in sparsely sampled are- genera can be found, Chara, Nitellopsis, Ni- as. tella and Tolypella. Five species are only to be found on the territory of Vojvodina and have Updated general information on charophyte never been recorded on the remaining territory species composition, distribution and abun- of Serbia. Two of them are new for the territo- dance is useful both at national and interna- ry of Vojvodina and Serbia. tional levels and may be used in Estonian Historical data report charophyte findings at charophytes’ biodiversity assessment. 47 localities in Vojvodina. In the newest sur- The full text of the thesis is available from vey, they were discovered at 54 localities. All http://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/49417. data were georeferenced and species distribution maps were given. In accordance with data

availability, the ecological analyses were Anastasiia Kovtun-Kante (Estonia) done. The analyses confirmed two main types

of charophyte habitats and three „groups“ of

charophyte species inhabiting them: generalist Aleksandra Vesić, University of Belgrade Supervisor: prof dr Jasmina Šinžar-Sekulić species, spring species living mostly in tem- porary pools and a third group, made of spe- PhD thesis title: The ecological study of cies inhabiting deeper and more stable habi- charophytes (Charophyceae) of standing tats, such as sandpits and rivers. Hence, one of and slow running waters of Vojvodina the important conclusions of this work was On September 26th, 2016, Aleksandra Z. Vesić the importance of more frequent investiga- defended her thesis at the Faculty of Biology, tions, particularly during the spring time, as University of Belgrade, in front of the jury well as studying the ecology of the individual composed of four members: dr Gordana species, aiming to better understand their ad- Subakov-Simić, associate professor, dr Dmitar aptations and presupposed adaptive advantage Lakušić, full professor, University of Bel- in the future, in accordance with the predicted grade, Faculty of Biology, dr Vladimir Ranđe- climate scenario. lović, full professor, University of Niš, Facul- The great number of charophyte findings in ty of Sciences and Mathematics, dr Goran both habitat types is related to their ability to Anačkov, associate professor, University of act as pioneer species. In contrast, they were Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences. found considerably less frequently in habitats already inhabited by other submerged macro- The charophytes are underinvestigated on the phytes or algae, which apparently have a territory of Serbia. All the species are classi- competitive advantage over charophytes. fied in one of the IUCN categories. This dis- 24

Generally, the protected areas of Vojvodina are reliable has to be shown with further in- stand out as the richest areas by the number of vestigations (e.g. long-term experiments). charophyte findings and by the charophyte We also investigated species-specific effects species richness. of temperature, irradiance, desiccation and nu- Aleksandra Vesić (Serbia) trient conditions on the germination rate of

natural diaspore banks in laboratory experi- Anja Holzhausen, University of Rostock ments. Supervisor: Hendrik Schubert Both pre-treatments, temperature and desicca- PhD thesis title: Resilience of aquatic ecosys- tion, influence the dormancy state of Chara tems - vitality of seed banks oospores. But only in concert with favourable On November 4, 2016 Anja Holzhausen de- conditions like nutrient supply or species- fended her thesis at the faculty of mathematics specific light irradiance this leads to a suc- and natural sciences of Rostock after receiv- cessful germination of oospores. According to ing positive reviews of H. Schubert (Rostock) our results, two germination groups can be and L. Krienitz (Stechlin). distinguished with respect to light. First a group of light-dependent germination e.g. This thesis examined the estimation and eval- Lychnothamnus barbatus, Nitella flex- uation of the germination potential of diaspore ilis/opaca, Nitella mucronata, Tolypella banks. For this, three parts were analysed – glomerata, Chara filiformis and Chara aspera first, the species composition; second, the vi- and second a group of light independent ger- tality of oospores and third the conditions for mination (Chara canescens, Chara contraria, breaking the dormancy as well as inducing Chara vulgaris, Chara globularis and Nitel- germination. lopsis obtusa). Although these results cannot Assessments of diaspore bank potentials are be transferred directly to aquatic systems, due necessary due to the role of macrophytes in to numerous interactions which also influence aquatic systems to preserve their function and successful recolonization, such as the activity structure (resilience). A lot of studies incorpo- and density of benthic invertebrates, seed size, ratemacrophytes, especially Characeae, ac- the physical and chemical substrate character- tively in restoration processes. Problematic in istics as well as the underwater light climate, most of these studies is the reliable estimation show these results a good accordance with the of the restoration potential of the diaspore natural occurrence of the species. bank and the conditions required for its acti- Anja Holzhausen (Germany) vation. Consequently the number of diaspores and the vitality of these have to be determined as well as the mechanism of activating dia- Liina Pajusalu, Estonian Marine Institute, spores as prerequisite for successful recovery. University of Tartu In this study, multidimensional analyses have Supervisor: Georg Martin, PhD been done to determine species by morpho- Opponent: Christopher D. Hepburn, PhD, logical oospore features. These investigations, University of Otago, New Zealand especially of Chara canescens Loisel. 1810, PhD Thesis title: The effect of CO enrich- have shown an effect on the morphology de- 2 ment on net photosynthesis of macrophytes pending on the salinity of the habitat. The in a brackish water environment. method of multidimensional analyses has been found to be a useful tool for the determi- On 25 November 2016, Liina Pajusalu de- nation of Chara oospores. fended her thesis. The thesis is based on 4 original publications. For the detection of the vitality 2.3.5- Triphenyltetrazoliumchloride (TTC) was Today one of the greatest global environmen- used. This method made it possible to differ- tal issues is ocean acidification, which is di- entiate between vital and non-vital oospores rectly related to our carbon dioxide (CO2) through a colour change which is due to the emissions. Ocean acidification (OA) is de- reduction of the colourless TTC to red col- fined as a reduction in the global ocean pH, oured triphenylformazan in presence of active caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from dehydrogenases. First results showed that only 54-90% of the oospores are vital in natural sediments, but to which extent these results 25 the atmosphere. Any changes in the seawater FORTHCOMING MEETINGS pH also cause shifts in carbonate chemistry. OA is predicted to cause extensive changes in 2017 marine ecosystems. In this thesis, macroalgae, charophytes and 15 – 18 June 2017 seagrass are collectively referred to as marine The German Working Group on Charo- macrophytes. The objective of this thesis was phytes (AGCD) to describe the effect of CO2 enrichment on The German Working Group on Charophytes the net photosynthesis of macrophytes in a (AGCD) will hold its Annual Meeting togeth- brackish water environment. In addition, we er with colleagues from Austria, the Nether- investigated whether increased CO2 in combi- lands and Poland in eastern Brandenburg near nation with short-term natural fluctuations of Frankfurt/Oder, including an excursion to environmental factors exerts an interactive ef- lakes in neighbouring Poland (Lychnothamnus fect on the net photosynthesis of macrophytes. bar-batus!). The mesocosm experiments were carried out Accomodation at: Landeslehrstätte Lebus in the shallow semi-enclosed Kõiguste Bay, Contact: Hendrik Schubert Gulf of Riga, northern Baltic Sea. [email protected]

The experiments with charophytes were car- 2 – 7 July 2017 ried out with three species: Chara aspera, C. Symposium for European Freshwater Sci- tomentosa and C. horrida. The mesocosm ex- ences, Olomouc, Czech Republic periments were carried out in Kõiguste Bay http://www.sefs10.cz/ during the field season of 2012 (salinity 5.6 PSU). Separate mesocosms were maintained 10 – 12 July 2017 at different pCO2 levels: ca. 2000, ca. 1000 Agrora Paleobotanica, Montpellier, France and ca. 200 µatm (control treatment). As a re- Talks and posters in all areas of paleobotany, sponse variable – the photosynthetic rate of fieldtrip to the Permian basin of Lodeve. charophytes at different pCO2 levels (meso- https://agorapaleobotanica.wordpress.com/acc cosms) was measured once a day using the ueil-en/ oxygen method. Our results showed that photosynthetic rates 23 – 29 July 2017 of charophytes varied both between species XIX International Botanical Congress, and treatments at different pCO2 levels. C. Shenzhen, China tomentosa and C. horrida demonstrated in- http://www.ibc2017.cn/ creasing photosynthetic rates with elevated pCO levels, while C. aspera showed only a 13 – 19 August 2017 2 th slight response during the experimental peri- 11 International Phycological Congress, od. Compared to the other charophyte species, Szczecin, Poland C. aspera is considered to be the most tolerant http://www.intphycsoc.org/congresses.php species to the variation of environmental fac- 18 – 21 September 2017 tors such as light, salinity, bottom substrate, th depth and exposure. Due to species specific 21 Meeting of the Group of European Charophytologists (GEC), Valencia, Spain response to elevated pCO2 levels that may have implications for interspecific competi- The meeting is organized by Cavanilles Insi- tion and community structure in a future high tute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia. First circular and reg- CO2 world. During the active vegetation period charophyte communities will have a buff- istration form can be found in new IRGC webpage: http://www.sea.ee/irgcharophytes/ ering role under future increasing CO2 concentrations in the north-eastern Baltic Sea Contact: Maria A. Rodrigo conditions. [email protected]

The thesis can be freely downloaded from the following site: http://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/54274 Liina Pajusalu (Estonia)

2018 2. To send a message for distribution to all subscribers of the listserver send it to charophyte- 18 – 23 February 2018 [email protected]. This is called "sending mail to 15th International Symposium on Aquatic the list", because you send mail to a single ad- Plants, Queenstown, New Zealand dress and charophyte-L circulates copies to all http://www.aquaticplants2018.co.nz/ subscribers. The main purpose of the charophyte list server is to act as an electronic fo- 9 – 13 July 2018 rum. When you send a message to the list The 5th International Paleontological Con- server, remember that it will be distributed by gress, Paris, France the computer at Purdue University Northwest https://www.waset.org/conference/2018/07/ist to all subscribers. We strongly recommend anbul/ICL always putting charophyte-L as the subject of your message. You cannot post to the list 23 – 24 July 2018 except from the exact address from which 20th International Conference on Limnology, you subscribed. Istanbul, Turkey 3. To reply to messages from the list using the https://agorapaleobotanica.files.wordpress.co reply function will send your answer to the m/2017/01/ipc5_1stcircular.pdf/ whole list. Depending on the subject, you may 12 – 17 August 2018 sometimes prefer to answer only to the person th 10 European Paelobotany & Palynology who sent the message by copying and pasting Conference, University College Dublin, Ire- their email address into “to” on your reply land email. http://eppc2018.ie/ 4. Messages containing commands must be addressed to [email protected] CHAROPHYTE DISCUSSION FORUM Commands must always be placed in the body of the message, not the subject line – Introduction leave the subject blank! Remember they Charophyte-L is a discussion forum on any must be in plain text format and your sig- aspect of CHAROPHYTES sensu CHAR- nature should be off. Also be aware that ALES, moderated under the auspices of the failure to expand your message box to full International Research Group on Charo- size will cause insertion of a “ > ” at the be- phytes (IRGC). Its purpose is to foster fruitful ginning of your command and may result discussions and exchange useful information in the command not being recognized be- quickly and efficiently. Ultimately, the goal is cause of a syntax error. Below are some to enhance global understanding of the eco- common commands. logical importance of charophytes from both a 5. You may leave the list at any time by sending current and historical perspective. In striving the command : “unsubscribe charophyte-L” in for this, we hope to strongly encourage new the body of the message to [email protected] researchers to engage in the study of charophytes. 6. To receive a list of the most commonly used list server commands type “help” in the body Instructions of the message to [email protected] Please read the following very carefully, es- 7. To receive a comprehensive listing of all list pecially if you are not familiar with listserv- server commands type “info” in the body of ers. the message to [email protected] 1. To subscribe to the listserver, address the 8. Contributions sent to this list are automatical- email to [email protected]. In the body (not ly archived. You can get a list of the available the subject) of the message type “subscribe archive files by sending an "index charophyte- charophyte-L your name”. It must be sent as L" command to [email protected] . a text message. Also make sure your signa- ture is turned off for this email. Once you are subscribed you can send messages to the list server subscribers as html which allows more flexibility in type and insertion of pho- tographs and so on. 27

Writing and Layout suggestions NEW IRGC HOMEPAGE Messages will appear with YOUR, the sender’s, name as the sender. The list server’s ad- New IRGC homepage is available: dress only appears in the header of the mes- http://www.sea.ee/irgcharophytes/ Members sage. In order to make sure that your message are welcome to send relevant information to will be recognised as a charophyte-message Kaire Torn ([email protected]). and that it will not be deleted as an AD or SPAM, we strongly recommend always put- CHAROPHYTES ON THE WEB ting charophyte-L as the subject of your message. Indeed, your name as a sender could be overlooked if it is unknown or unusual to The GEC homepage is the responsibility of the list members. the organizers of the GEC meetings. The last You may also be advised to start the body of GEC homepage was: your message with the topic of your mail: http://www.gec.amu.edu.pl/ For instance: “charophyte cultures” – “Nitella spp. “ - etc. * Don't use all capital letters for more than a Landelijk Informatiecentrum voor Kranswie- word or two. ren (LIK): http://www.kranswieren.nl (in * Insert blank lines between paragraphs. dutch) * Include website addresses as in http://seaweed.nuigalway.ie/. The International Fossil Algae Association (IFAA): http://www.ku.edu/~ifaa/ Moderator Robin Scribailo, Department of Biological The Charophycean Green Algae Home Page: Sciences, Purdue University Northwest, http://www.life.umd.edu/labs/delwiche/Ch Westville, Indiana ([email protected] ) is the onsite moderator for this list. Governing arophyte.html members of the IRGC will also act as off-site moderators. Homepage of the German Working Group on Messages will not be screened for content pri- Characeans (AGCD): http://www.biologie. or to posting but will be read to make sure that uni-rostock.de/oekologie/agcd standards of etiquette are upheld. If it is felt that the content of messages is too far off topics of interest to charophyte biologists a mes- Homepage of the electronic journal Charo- sage may be sent to the server to that effect. phytes: http://www.charophytes.com Individuals that send irrelevant or offensive information to the server will be warned and International Phycological Society (IPC): then banned should the problem continue. http://www.intphycsoc.org/ Spammers will be removed from the list as quickly as possible but should be screened out by Purdue North Central’s extensive email monitoring system. If you ever need to get in contact with the moderator of the list send e- mail to [email protected] Comments about ways to improve this service should be also addressed to the moderator at [email protected]. Robin Scribailo (USA)

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Vesić, Aleksandra [email protected] Wojtczak, [email protected]. Vicente Rodríguez, [email protected] Agnieszka lodz.pl Alba [email protected] Zhamangara, [email protected] Villalba-Breva, [email protected] Aizhan Sheila Zviedre, Egita [email protected] Wallström, Kerstin [email protected] Wang, Qi-Fei [email protected]

IRGC 2017 ADDRESS LIST

Dr Akram Ahmadi Dr Sophia Barinova Dr Irmgard Blindow Shahid Beheshti University Institute of Evolution Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Faculty of Botany University of Haifa, Mount Carmel Greifswald Teheran 199 Abba Khoushi Ave. Biologische Station Hiddensee Iran Haifa 3498838 Kloster D-18565 Israel Germany Prof Mitchell S. Alix Dr Katarzyna Bociag Department of Biological Sciences Dr Mary Jane Beilby Department of Plant Ecology College of Engineering and Scienc- School of Physics University of Gdansk es, Purdue University Northwest University of New South Wales Ul. Legionow 9 North Central Campus Sydney NSW 2052 Gdansk PL-80-441 1401 S. U.S. Hwy. 421, Westville Australia Poland IN 46391-9528 USA Dr Roland Bengtsson Dr Aurélie Boissezon Ölsåkra, Slottet HES-SO University of Applied Sci- Dr Pedro Anadon Torpsbruk SE-34037 ences and Arts Western Switzerland Institut de Ciencies de la Terra Sweden Route De Presinge 150, Jussy "J. Almera" C.S.I.C. Geneva CH-1254 Calle L. Sole Sabaris s.n. Roch-Alexandre Benoit Switzerland Barcelona E-08028 14 boulevard Sébastopol Spain Rennes F-35000 Olena Borysova France Institute of Botany Dr Takashi Asaeda NAS Ukraine Department of Environmental Vincent Bertrin 2, Tereschenkivska St. Science, Saitama University Irstea Bordeaux Kyiv 01601 255, Shimo-Okubo Sakura Unité de recherche EABX Ukraine Saitama 338-8570 Ecosystèmes Aquatiques et Japan Changements Globaux Christian Breithaupt 50 Ave De Verdun Ernst-Thälmann-Strasse 14 Dr Dominique Auderset Joye Cestas Cedex F-33612 Dersekow D-17498 Uni Carl Vogt France Germany Boulevard Carl Vogt 66 John Bruinsma Bureau A409 Prof Mary A. Bisson Torbeckelaan 24 Geneve CH-1205 Aquatic Ecosystems and Global Breugel 5694 CR Switzerland Changes, Cooke Hall 109 The Netherlands Buffalo NY 14260 Mattia M. Azzella USA Dr Martynas Bučas Via G. Bellucci 94 Marine Science and Technology Roma I-00156 Prof Jelena Blazencic Centre, Klaipeda University Italy Institute of Botany H. Manto 84 University of Belgrade Klaipeda LT92294 Swetha Balakrishnan Takovska 43 Lithuania 1 B-1 Giuhass Padmanedhi Apart- Belgrade 11000 ments, East Avenue, Kamaraj Na- Serbia gar, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai 600041 India

Dr Norma Catarina Bueno Dr Monique Feist, M. Dr Anja Holzhausen Conselheira do CRBio 07 Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Universität Rostock Mestrado Cons. e Manejo de Rec. case 64, Université Montpellier 2 Biowissenschaften Naturai, UNIOESTE- Herbario C.P. 062, Place E. Bataillon Albert-Einstein-Straße 3 UNOP/CCBS, R. Universitária, Montpellier-Cedex 5, F-34095 Rostock D-18059 1619 - Universitário France Germany Cascavel/Parana 85819-110 Brazil Dr Nuria Flor-Arnau Prof Andrzej Hutorowicz C/Padre Claret, 103 (3-4) Hydroacoustics Laboratory Prof Eduardo J. Cáceres Barcelona E-08025 The Stanislaw Sakowicz Inland Departamento de Biología Spain Fisheries Institute Universidad Nacional del Sur M. Oczapowskiego 10 San Juan 670 Prof Ilse Foissner Olsztyn–Kortowo PL-10-719 Bahía Blanca 8000 University Salzburg Poland Argentina Hellbrunnerstr. 34 Salzburg A-5020 Dr Gustav Johansson Sara Calero Cervera Austria Herrgarden 8 Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Enköping SE-74941 Biologia Evolutiva Dr Adriana Garcia Sweden Universitat de Valencia School of Earth and Environmental C/ Catedràtic José Beltrán, 2 Sciences, University of Wollongong Adjunct Prof Margarete Kalin Paterna (València) E-46980 Northfields Ave 535E Jutenbuehl Spain Wollongong NSW 2522 CH 6086 Hasliberg-Reuti Australia Switzerland Dr Michelle T. Casanova Federation Unviersity Australia Stephen Gottschalk Ken Karol 273 Casanova Rd Westmere 2456 Arthur Avenue Apt. 6 New York Botanical Garden Vic. 3351 Bronx, New York NY 10458 2900 Southern Blvd. Australia USA Bronx NY-10458 USA Dr Elena Chemeris Dr Patrick Grillas Institute for Biology of Inland Wa- Institut de Recherche pour la Tom Kirschey ters, Russian Academy of Sciences conservation des zones humides NABU Headquarters Yaroslavl Region, Nekouz District méditerranéennes Charitéstrasse 3 Borok 152742 Le Sambuc 13 200 Berlin D-10117 Russian Federation Arles, F-13200 Germany France Prof Allan R. Chivas Dr Marja Koistinen School of Earth and Environmental Laura Grinberga Botanical Museum of Natural His- Sciences, University of Wollongong The Latvian Museum of Natural tory Northfields Ave History P.O. Box 7 (Unioninkatu 44) Wollongong NSW 2522 K. Barona street 4 University of Helsinki Australia Rīga LV-1050 Helsinki FI-00014 Latvia Finland Andrea De Sosa Tomas Universidad Nacional de la Patago- Dr Jean Nicolas Haas Dr Anastasiia Kovtun-Kante nia San Juan Bosco Department of Botany Estonian Marine Institute Piloto Villarino 4702 University of Innsbruck University of Tartu Barrio San Martin Este Km3, Sternwartestraße 15 Mäealuse 14 General Mosconi, Innsbruck A-6020 Tallinn 12618 Comodoro Rivadavia Austria Estonia Argentina Dr Joseph Hannibal Prof Gregor Kozlowski Mary D. de Winton Cleveland Museum of Natural University of Fribourg National Institute of Water and History Natural History Museum Fribourg Atmospheric Research (NIWA) 1 Wade Oval Drive Chemin du Musée 10 PO Box 11115 Cleveland OH 44106 Fribourg CH-1700 Hamilton 3216 USA Switzerland New Zealand

Joanna Krupska Prof Carles Martin-Closas Dr habil Ass. Prof Andrzej Pukacz Department of Hydrobiology Departament d'Estratigrafia Polish-German Research Institute at Faculty of Biology Paleontologia i Geociències marines Collegium Polonicum Adam Mickiewicz University Facultat de Geologia Adam Mickiewicz University Umultowska 89 Universitat de Barcelona ul. Kosciuszki 1 Poznan PL-61-614 Barcelona E-08028 Słubice PL-69-100 Poland Spain Poland

Prof Maria Kwiatkowska Dr Fateh Mebrouk Uwe Raabe Department of Cytophysiology Departement de Géologie Borgsheider Weg 11 University of Lodz Faculté des Sciences Marl D-45770 Pomorska 141/143 Université de Jijel Germany Łódź PL-90-236 Bp 98 Ouled Aissa

Poland Jijel 18 000 Algeria Cristina Ribaudo Dr Tina Kyrkander IRSTEA-EABX TerraLimno Gruppen Dr Susan Meiers 50, Avenue De Verdun Bryngelsgata 2A Department of Biology Cestas F-33612 Falköping SE-52143 Western Illinois University France Sweden 372 Waggoner Hall Macomb IL 61455 Prof Maria Rodrigo Dr Elisabeth Lambert-Servien USA Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i UCO - Faculté des Sciences Dépt Biologie Environnement Dr Emile Nat Biologia Evolutiva 3, Place André Leroy Land. Informatiecentrum voor Universitat de Valencia C/ Catedràtic José Beltrán, 2, UCO - BP 10808 Kranswieren c/o Paterna (València) E-46980 49008 ANGERS cedex O1 Naturalis Biodiversity Center Spain France Dept. Algology

P.O. Box 9517, Dr Anders Langangen Leiden NL-2300 RA Julio C. Rodriguez Reyes Hallagerbakken 82B, The Netherlands Centro Regional de Investigaciones Oslo NO-1256 Ambientales (CRIA) Norway Dr Petra Nowak Universidad de Oriente' Universität Rostock Nucleo Nueva Esparta Dr Sha Li Biowissenschaften Avenida 31 Julio Nanjing Institute of Geology and Albert-Einstein-Straße 3 Sector Guatamare, Porlamar Palaeontology Rostock D-18059 Isla De Margarita Chinese Academy of Sciences Germany (Estado Nueva Esparta) No. 39 East Beijing Road Venezuela Nanjing 210008 Dr habil Ass. Prof Mariusz P. R. China Pełechaty Dr Roman Romanov Department of Hydrobiology Central Siberian Botanical Garden Dr Spencer G. Lucas Faculty of Biology Siberian Branch of the Russian New Mexico Museum of Natural Adam Mickiewicz University Academy of Sciences History and Science Umultowska 89 Zolotodolinskaya Str. 101 1801 Mountain Road N. W. Poznan PL-61-614 Novosibirsk 630090 Albuquerque, New Mexico Poland Russian Federation 87104-1375 USA Prof Katarzyna Popłońska Dr Susana Romo Department of Cytophysiology Unidad Ecologia, Henry Mann University of Lodz Edificio Investigation Campus 2 Fourth Ave. Pomorska 141/143 Burjassot, València E-46100 Pasadena Łódź PL-90-236 Spain Newfoundland Poland AOL 1KO Dr Hidetoshi Sakayama Canada Dr Eugeniusz Pronin Department of Biology Department of Environment Moni- Graduate School of Science Dr Georg Martin toring, Voivodship Inspectorate of Kobe University Estonian Marine Institute Environmental Protection in Zielona 1-1 Rokkodai Nada University of Tartu Góra Kobe 657-8501 Mäealuse 14, Tallinn 12618 Siemiradzkiego 19 Japan Estonia Zielona Góra PL-65-231 Poland 33

Fidel Rubio Dr Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche Alba Vicente Rodríguez Carrer Blasco Ibáñez 22 Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution Departament de Dinàmica de la Artesa, Castellon Paléoenvironments Terra i de l'Oceà E-12220 Université Montpellier Facultat de Ciències de la Terra Spain Case 61, Place E. Bataillon Universitat de Barcelona Montpellier-Cedex 5 Barcelona E-08071 Ass Prof Josep Sanjuan Girbau F-34095 Spain Geology department France American University of Beirut Dr Sheila Villalba-Breva Beirut Dr Branka Stevanovic Departament de Dinàmica de la Ter- Lebanon Institute of Botany ra i de l'Oceà University of Belgrade Facultat de Ciències de la Terra Dr Ralf Schaible Takovska 43 Universitat de Barcelona Universität Rostock Belgrade 11000 Barcelona E-08071 FB Biowissenschaften Aquatische Serbia Spain Ökologie Albert-Einstein-Straße 3 Dr Kerstin Wallström Nick Stewart Rostock D-18051 Långruddu 517 Bridgepark, New Abbey Germany Örbyhus SE-74895 Dumfries DG2 8HH Sweden United Kingdom of Great Britain Dr Susanne Schneider and Northern Ireland NIVA (Norsk institutt for Prof Qi-Fei Wang vannforskning) Nanjing Institute of Geology and Gaustadalléen 21 Dr Piotr Sugier Palaeontology Oslo NO-0349 Department of Ecology Chinese Academy of Sciences Norway Maria Curie-Sklodowska University No. 39 East Beijing Road Akademicka Ul. 19 Nanjing 210008 Prof Hendrik Schubert Lublin PL-20-033 P. R. China Universität Rostock Poland Institut für Biowissenschaften Dr Agnieszka Wojtczak Albert-Einstein-Straße 3 Department of Cytophysiology Dr Kaire Torn Rostock D-18059 University of Lodz Estonian Marine Institute Germany Pomorska 141/143 University of Tartu Łódź PL-90-236 Mäealuse 14 Dr Robin W. Scribailo Poland Biological Sciences Tallinn 12618 Purdue University North Central Estonia Dr Aizhan Zhamangara

1401 S. U.S. 421 L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National Dr. habil. Jacek Urbaniak Westville IN 46391-9528 University Institute of Botany USA 5 Munaitpasov Street Wroclaw University Astana 010008 Dr Jan Simons Kanonia 6/8 Kazakhstan Laan Van Bloemenhove 8 Wroclaw PL-50-328 Poland Amstelveen 1181 AP Dr Egita Zviedre

The Netherlands University of Latvia Dr Klaus Van de Weyer Faculty of Biology Dr Zofija Sinkevičienė Lana-Plan, Lobbericher Str. 5 Jelgavas street 1 Nature Research Centre Nettetal D-41334 Riga LV-1004 Germany Institute of Botany Latvia

Žaliųjų Ežerų Str. 49 Vilnius LT-2021 Dr Aleksandra Vesić Lithuania Stevana Markovica 2, Zemun, Belgrade Robin Sleith 11080 Serbia 708 West Serbia 171St Street, Apt. 75A New York NY 100 USA

Fig. 1. Poster presentation by Robin S- Sleith. Photo by Fig. 4. Charophytes from Chara globata of the Kap- Kaire Torn. shagay water reservoir. Photo by Carles Martín-Closas.

Fig. 5. Views of the continental section of the Aktau Mountains, with Stephen D. Gottschalk on top of the hill al left. Photo by Alba Vicente.

Fig. 2. Collecting charophytes from Lake Zerendy, North Kazakhstan. Photo by Aizhan Zhamangara.

Fig. 6. Observing fossil charophytes with a hand lens by Adriana García. Photo by Alba Vicente.

Fig. 3. Collecting charophytes from Lake Katarkol, North Kazakhstan. Photo by Aizhan Zhamangara.

GROUP PHOTOGRAPH 7th IRGC, Astana, Kazakhstan

1. Maria Rodrigo 2. Susi Schneider 3. Petra Nowak 4. Aizhan Zhamangara 5. Sara Calero 6. Carles Martín-Closas 7. Akram Ahmadi 8. Zofija Sinkevičienė 9. Sophia Barinova 10. Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche 11. Mary Beilby 12. Kaire Torn 13. Sha Li 14. Margarete Kalin 15. Adriana García 16. Roman Romanov 17. Hidetoshi Sakayama 18. Elisabeth Lambert 19. Robin Sleith 20. Bruno Lambert 21. Alba Vicente 22. Hendrik Schubert 23. Sherim Tulegenov 24. Andrzej Pukacz 25. Emile Nat 26. Anja Holzhausen 27. Allan Chivas 28. Stephen Gottschalk 29. Joe Hannibal