Brown Seaweeds (Phaeophyceae) of Britain and Ireland provides the first complete, up-to-date, detailed illustrated guide and keys to the nearly 200 species of brown algae present around the coasts of Britain and Ireland. It is the culmination of over 30 years of field and laboratory studies by the author.
Following an exhaustive introduction that covers the biology and ecology of brown seaweeds, a checklist of species is set out, followed by clear and user-friendly keys to the genera. Particular attention is then paid to providing detailed illustrations, and the volume holds more than 300 compound plates of line drawings and photographs in its extensive taxonomic treatment. Comprehensive information is given on the geographical and seasonal distributions, synonymy, morphology, anatomy, cytology, reproduction, life histories, taxonomy, systematics and bibliographic material pertaining to each species.
Notably, this flora offers a much fuller consideration of many of the lesser-known, more cryptic microscopic brown algae than previously available. Further, the book also contains the results of much original research undertaken by the author. This will surely remain a standard reference work on brown seaweeds for many years to come – an indispensable research tool and field guide for phycologists and students throughout the North Atlantic region and beyond.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Cell structure
The brown algal thallus
Reproduction
Life histories
Community ecology
Floristics
Systematics
Checklist of Phaeophyceae for Britain and Ireland
Arrangement of the work
References for Introduction
Keys to genera
Taxonomic treatment
SUBCLASS DISCOSPORANGIOPHYCIDAE
Order Discosporangiales
Family Choristocarpaceae
SUBCLASS ISHIGEOPHYCIDAE
Order Ishigeales
Family Petrodermatceae
SUBCLASS DICTYOTOPHYCIDAE
Order Dictyotales
Family Dictyotaceae
Order Sphacelariales
Family Cladostephaceae
Family Lithodermataceae
Family Sphacelariaceae
Family Sphacelodermataceae
Family Stypocaulaceae
SUBCLASS FUCOPHYCIDAE
Order Desmarestiales
Family Arthrocladiaceae
Family Desmarestiaceae
Order Ectocarpales
Family Acinetosporaceae
Family Chordariaceae
Family Ectocarpaceae
Family Petrospongiaceae
Family Scytosiphonaceae
Order Fucales
Family Fucaceae
Family Himanthaliaceae
Family Cystoseiraceae
Family Sargassaceae
Order Laminariales
Family Alariaceae
Family Chordaceae
Family Laminariaceae
Order Ralfsiales
Family Ralfsiaceae
Order Sporochnales
Family Sporochnaceae
Order Tilopteridales
Family Cutleriaceae
Family Halosiphonaceae
Family Phyllariaceae
Family Tilopteridaceae
Incertae sedis at ordinal rank
Sorapion
Glossary
References
Index
Robert Fletcher is a Visiting Reader at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Portsmouth, UK, where he has worked since 1971. He has published widely on aspects of the ecology, life histories, molecular biology, taxonomy and applied aspects of marine algae, with particular respect to the brown algae. He is a member of both the British Society of Phycology and the International Society of Phycology. He received his PhD in Marine Botany from the University of London, UK in 1974.
"Most welcomed is this long anticipated, comprehensive and authoritative treatment of the brown seaweeds of Britain and Ireland. It represents the culmination of more than 35 years of research by the author following publication of his first volume on brown seaweeds. An impressive book that is a useful introduction and indispensable reference source for anyone researching this environmentally and commercially important seaweed group in the North East Atlantic and beyond."
– Professor David M John, Natural History Museum, London
"Dr Fletcher's monograph is a magnificent, scholarly account of all the brown seaweeds of Britain and Ireland (and of most of the brown algae of the coasts from Norway and Iceland south to Portugal). It represents more than half a century of sustained and painstaking fieldwork and laboratory studies by the author. No study of this coverage and quality of brown seaweeds of the NE Atlantic has been published in the last 90 years."
– Professor M.D. Guiry, AlgaeBase, University of Galway
"There is probably noone who knows the brown algae of Britain and Ireland better than Robert Fletcher, and I am very glad that he managed, with the invaluable aid of Juliet Brodie, to present his incredible expertise in this wonderful work. I am convinced that Brown Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland will greatly serve phycologists in the identification and in-depth study of the Phaeophyceae. An impressive work."
– Akira F. Peters, marine biologist and director of Bezhin Rosko