Published paper: Extensive cryptic species diversity and fine-scale endemism in the marine red alga Portieria in the Philippines

Published paper from Marine@UGent member Olivier De Clerck: Extensive cryptic species diversity and fine-scale endemism in the marine red alga Portieria in the Philippines

Marine species are generally believed to be widespread because they can disperse on ocean currents without any apparent barriers to dispersal in the sea. This assumption has also led to the belief that in order to save marine species from extinction, only a few biodiversity hotspots have to be conserved. We discovered that this assumption is likely to be fallacious.

Studies focussing on the widespread red seaweed Portieria hornemannii show that it is not one species but rather consists of at least 21 look-alike species with very small distribution ranges within the Philippine archipelago. Besides the remarkable discovery of 20 new species in one go, this result indicates that marine species-level diversity can be structured at a spatial scale of kilometres rather than hundreds or thousands of kilometres. The finding of fine-scale endemism implies that conservation efforts in archipelagos will need to focus on all islands rather than on a few presumed biodiversity hotspots.