Marine Benthic Algae of the Commander Islands (Pacific Coast of Russia) with Checklist Revised in 2012

Abstract

A revised checklist of marine benthic algae of the Commander Islands (Russian Pacific) is presented. It is based on the authors’ field collections. The list of algae of the area totals to 187 species (36 Chlorophyta, 38 Ochrophyta, class Phaeophyceae, and 113 Rhodophyta) of these 44 species (9 Chlorophyta, 8 Ochrophyta, class Phaeophyceae, and 27 Rhodophyta) are added to the previous checklists (Selivanova and Zhigadlova, 1997). We also confirm the presence of 5 species on the Islands that were absent in our earlier material but were recorded by other authors (Phycodrys amchitkensis, Mastocarpus papillatus, Lithothamnion sonderi, Odonthalia dentata, and Pleonosporium vancouverianum). The species list of the newly recorded algae contains information on their ecology, fertility, and distribution. The algal taxonomy and nomenclature are updated with new world data.