Nataliya Milchakova MARINE PLANTS OF THE BLACK SEA An Illustrated Field Guide Sevastopol 2011 nataliya Milchakova Marine Plants of the Black sea an illustrated field Guide sevastopol 2011 DDC 581.9(262.5) Milchakova, nataliya Marine Plants of the Black sea. an illustrated field Guide sevastopol, DigitPrint, 2011. – 144 pp. isBn 978-966-02-5801-3 a.o. kovalevsky institute of Biology of the southern seas national academy of sciences of Ukraine This Guide has been prepared with the financial assistance of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (BSC). except for photos, which cannot be used without permission of the author, this book may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose without prior permission in writing from the Permanent secretariat of the Bsc. This book is intended for scientists, teachers, students and the general public interested in flora and bottom vegetation and can be used for species identification of the Black Sea marine plants. this book may be cited as: Marine plants of the Black Sea. An illustrated field guide. 2011. nataliya Milchakova, Digit Print Press, sevastopol, 144 pp. cover design: Vladykin V., Milchakova n. cover images: species, map of the Black sea Published by Digit Print Press Senayvina St. 1, Office 304, Sevastopol 99011 Tel. +38 (095)850-50-28, [email protected] © iBss nasU, 2011 © Bsc, 2011 In sweet memory of Alexandra Kalugina-Gutnik and Ronald Phillips the biology of algae is a duty or a task, that consumes the better portion of your time In the sampling of waters from an ocean, or a flask, Or a snowfield, or a gutter full of slime. You get cold, and wet, and grubby; you get dusty, hot, and dry; You get dismal, and dejected, and defied; But you’ll find that, if you are lucky - if you’re good - and if you try, You can do a little science on the side. Ralph Arnold Lewin Dr. R.A. Lewin (1921–2008) was a famous scientist and world expert in marine algae. He was known as “the father of green algae genetics” and a leading authority in multiple areas of marine biology. 4 acknoWleDGeMents this book would not have seen the light of day without the enthusiastic i am also indebted to Vladimir alexandrov and Valentina ryabogina for efforts of the staff at the laboratory of Phytoresources, institute of Biol- their cooperation and valuable technical assistance. ogy of the Southern Seas (IBSS), Sevastopol, Ukraine. My special thanks to olga klimentova who translated this book into english, i wish to express my gratitude to colleagues – Vladimir alexandrov, and to kathleen Parsons and arthur o’ leary who edited the english text. Dr. liliya Bondareva, Dr. Viktor Dzizurov, Prof. Galina Minicheva, i also thank Dr. Diane littler and Prof. Mark littler for revising the Dr. nataliya Mironova, Dr. tatyana Pankeeva, Dr. fillip saposhnikov, taxonomical parts of the book. Dr. olga shakhmatova, Dr. olga Vilkova, and Valentina ryabogina, for i am deeply grateful to the Black sea commission for its support of this their scientific interest in this project. Guide and to its Permanent Secretariat Officers, Prof. Ahmet Kideys, My special thanks to elena chernyshova, Dr. Pavel Goldin, executive Director and Dr. Violeta Velikova, Pollution Monitoring Vadim ivanov, taras hetman, andrey karpov, alexander Officer, who enthusiastically accepted this modern tool for identification kiryakov, igor kolokoltsev, Mikhail kornilov, Darya korole- of the Black sea marine plants. sova, Yury Moskalenko, aleksey nekrasov, sergey Petrossian, Ulyana simakova, Dmitry shamrey, Viktoria teyubova, alexander Zakletsky, larisa Znamenskaya, andrey Zubko and other colleaques for land and underwater photographs which they have generously shared. 5 Preface the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem is in the 1960s and 1970s, Black sea benthic communities along the coasts referred to as “biodiversity.” for centuries, scientists in many disciplines of Ukraine, russian federation, Georgia, Bulgaria and romania had been have engaged in extensive exploration of the biodiversity of the Black already thoroughly studied, variability and life cycle of species were sea. initially, the Black sea was considered relatively poor in species well known, their ecological niches and role within ecosystems were richness compared to other seas. often, the Black sea was called the identified. The results of numerous taxonomic investigations have been ‘impoverished pocket’ of the Mediterranean sea. summarized in the famous manual of A. D. Zinova (1967): ‘Guideline for identification of green, brown and red algae of the USSR Southern however, recent investigations had shown that there was a need to Seas’ (in Russian), where 277 different species of macroalgae have been seriously revise our perception of Black sea biodiversity. Why? Many described in detail and presented schematically. in 1975 a.a. kalugina- exciting advances in the study of life forms have taken place in the last Gutnik published her prominent book ‘Phytobenthos of the Black sea’ decade, as new theoretical frameworks have been identified, and new (in Russian), with wide-ranging taxonomic, biological, ecological, phyto- technologies to observe organisms in the field and the laboratory were geographical and other characteristics of Black sea algal communities developed. hence, new data were analysed leading to the discovery of and included a list of 292 species. numerous previously unknown creatures for the Black sea or correcting the taxonomic descriptions of the familiar species. in the period from 2000 to 2010, numerous publications highlighted the species richness along the Ukrainian and turkish Black sea coast, the story of the Black sea macroalgae and high plants was a little bit and today the Black sea check-list is comprised of 332 macroalgae and different. first studies on the species composition and the distribution of high plants (Milchakova, 2007). In 2006, Daciana Sava published the Black sea macroalgae date back to the middle of the 18th century. initially ‘Algele Macrofite’ in Romanian, where 35 common Black Sea macroalgae about 10 different species were described (Gmelin, 1768; Gablicella, 1785). were presented with respective photos. Yet up to the present, there was During the 19th century the number of known algal species for the no comprehensive, modern and well illustrated guide for Black sea Black sea grew to 100. s.a. Zernov, and n.V. Morozova-Vodyanizkaya flora and bottom vegetation identification, accompanied with concise created the Black sea collections of herbaria in the beginning of the and update information on the ecology, distribution and value of the 20th century, and they were widely used by scientists to prepare species, which was readable by all nations around the Black sea or taxonomic descriptions of algae. outside of the region. 6 the ‘Marine Plants of the Black sea’ which you hold in your hands is and last but not least, in paraphrase of William Blake , we hope the one such manual, prepared in english for wider dissemination and use. time spent with this book in the palm of your hand will be the ‘eternity We believe this valuable book will be equally attractive and useful in an hour’, and beauty discovered in it will be seeing heaven in the both for scientists, experts and decision-makers as well as for children, Black Sea flowers. students and people interested in the Black sea who will be able to learn and marvel at the beauty of the diverse Black sea underwater life Violeta Velikova & ahmet kideys provided through the rich information and lovely photos. Permanent secretariat Black sea commission it is worth mentioning here the serious gap in the communication of scientific achievements to the public which we habitually notice in the Black Sea region. In biodiversity, especially, scientific advances and much 1 The Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (Black Sea Com- current information are not widely known to people outside the profes- mission, BSC, www.blacksea-commission.org) is the intergovernmental body established sional community who study this field. Besides, scientists outside of the in implementation of the convention on the Protection of the Black sea against Pollu- region often have difficulties reading publications written in national tion (Bucharest Convention) which was signed in 1992 and later ratified by all Black Sea languages of the Black sea states, and they have the wrong impression countries. the basic objective of the Bucharest convention is to substantiate the general obligation of the contracting Parties to prevent, reduce and control the pollution in the Black that the Black sea region has fallen behind other european seas in science sea in order to protect and preserve the marine environment and to provide policy and legal and environment protection. the Black sea commission , as the regional frameworks for co-operation and concerted actions to fulfill this obligation. In particular, the focal Point in environmental protection, works to change this perception Bsc works in protection and conservation of biodiversity dealing with pressures causing and to further develop public awareness. change and decline of Black sea ecosystems. one of the Bsc actions in pursuing its goals is close cooperation with the regional and international scientific community to assure sound the Black sea commission has supported the publication of ‘Marine scientific background of decision making in the Black Sea region. Plants of the Black sea’ and trust that this book, conveying old and new knowledge, will serve many people. We thank the author and her 2 To see the world in a grain of sand,    and the heaven in a wild flower. team for their enthusiastic work, we highly appreciate their coopera-    Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, tion with the Black sea commission and their important contribution    and eternity in an hour.  to communicating the Black Sea scientific achievements in the region and world-wide. 7 introDUction Very delicate and complicated relationships underlie the universe in tourist resorts are located. the loads resulting from human activities, which marine plants and animals dwell; nowadays inhabitants of the marine traffic and tourism coupled with the global climate change have World ocean too often surrender, being unable to withstand human pres- disturbed the coastal seaweed and seagrass communities significantly sures and consequent impacts. in the long-term run. regrettably, many countries ignore the ecological importance of the coastal zone and abandon any activity that suggests everyone who steps from the beach into the sea meets algae and sea- conservation of the seaweed beds. the recent oil blowout and spill in the grasses, those basic primary producers which account for proper func- Gulf of Mexico has demonstrated how human activity may kill off marine tioning of the coastal marine ecosystem. seaweeds and seagrasses are life; the most gravely endangered are semi-enclosed seas, e.g., the Black coastal resources of inestimable value throughout the world. they create sea, which is one of the worst polluted seas in the world. therefore, pre- stable habitats for many types of food chains that support the goods and serving and conserving the diversity of the Black sea life is a challenge services of marine ecosystems (commercial species, recreation, utiliza- of special importance. tion of land-based and ship-borne pollution, etc.). These marine plants also stabilize bottom sediments thus preventing coastal erosion, and aid though key species of marine plants and their natural habitats in the in maintaining clear coastal waters since they buffer strong currents and Black sea have been placed under protection of regional and national wave action. the extremely high biodiversity of seaweed communities laws and international conventions, too many underwater communities is well known. Besides, a variety of marine plants are used as food and along the shoreline are still affected by degradation. Marine protected for chemical compounds required in many industries. The first records areas (MPAs) have proved efficient in preserving, restoring and maintain- about using seaweed and seagrass as medicinal agents were made about ing the biological diversity but at present their total area is not large. their two thousand years ago. expansion through the Black sea net of MPas acquires high priority in nature conservation. the greatest risks for disruption and extinction of marine plants are in the shallow coastal zones which, along with estuaries, are the places Unacceptably, present legislation level of designation of MPas fail to where most of the high concentrations of population occur in the world. adequately preserve the diversity of marine organisms. Besides, the this is where shipping and port activities take place, where large rivers general public awareness is low, people are not well challenged to acquire end after draining vast areas of agricultural activities, and where largest and enlarge their knowledge of plants and animals inhabiting the sea, their 8