{"id":20661,"date":"2022-09-21T12:02:44","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T10:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=66629"},"modified":"2022-09-21T12:22:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T10:22:13","slug":"isopods-found-to-fertilise-seaweed-in-our-oceans","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/isopods-found-to-fertilise-seaweed-in-our-oceans\/","title":{"rendered":"Isopods found to fertilise seaweed in our oceans"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Stuart Blackman\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 21 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Biologists have discovered that slender wart weed, a red seaweed<\/a> that grows in shallow UK waters, is \u2018pollinated\u2019 by a woodlouse-like marine crustacean named Idotea<\/em>, which transports the spermatia \u2013 the algal equivalent of pollen \u2013 from male to female plants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we found these crustaceans were highly associated with the algae, particularly Myriam Valero, a scientist at CNRS<\/a>, the French national research agency during the reproductive season, that\u2019s when we thought that maybe they are helping with fertilisation,\u201d says Myriam Valero, who led the research from France\u2019s University Paris- Sorbonne<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In return for their services, the crustaceans find food and shelter among the seaweed\u2019s fronds. While the sex cells of many seaweeds are able to swim using tail-like flagellae, those of red algae lack any form of propulsion.<\/p>\n

Without the crustaceans\u2019 help, the seaweed\u2019s sex cells would be at the mercy of currents. \u201cAlthough red algae are very different to flowering plants, in a way these systems are very similar,\u201d says Valero. \u201cWe are now looking at another red alga species in Chile, where there are no Idotea<\/em> present, but there is another crustacean species that might be performing a similar role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red algae are an ancient group of plants, raising the possibility that they enlisted the services of invertebrate \u2018pollinators\u2019 long before flowers appeared.<\/p>\n

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More wildlife news<\/h4>\n