This summer, scientists from the Baikal Museum of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with the support of our foundation, studied cheetophorous endemic algae. The experts laid the foundation for the study of evolutionary relationships – or ‘family tree’ of algae, as well as identified individual morphotypes and possibly discovered a new species of algae distributed only in Lake Baikal.
Prerequisites for the study of endemic green algae
For more than 10 years – since 2011 – unfavourable ecological phenomena have been developing in some areas of the coastal zone of Lake Baikal, which affect the composition of algae and zoobenthos and, as a consequence, the ecosystem of the lake as a whole. In different periods, filamentous and blue-green algae, toxin-producing cyanobacteria spread chaotically, industrial pollutants were released into the water, etc.
To expand fundamental knowledge and to study the problem in more depth, a project was launched to study endemic green algae of Baikal genera Draparnaldioides, Ireksokonia and Myxonemopsis.
Stages of the study
In April, preparatory activities were carried out: tools and preparations necessary for fixing samples were purchased, and microphotographs were taken to identify the characteristics of individual algal species. Thanks to the project support, a special tool for isolation of amplicons (DNA fragments) from gel was purchased.
May was marked by an interesting discovery – during the study of previously collected samples on the phylogenetic tree, scientists presumably identified a new species: Olkhon morphotype Draparnaldioides, which was not previously represented in any of the scientific studies and probably may turn out to be the tenth species of the genus.
The similarity of Myxonemopsis with the genus Draparnaldioides is also traced – perhaps it is only a developmental stage and not a separate genus. Additionally, the genetic distance between representatives of the genera Draparnaldia and Chaetorhoga was traced and it was suggested that they and Draparnaldioides had a common ancestor, after separation from which they developed in parallel.
In July, the staff of the Baikal Museum started sampling Draparnaldioides in the vicinity of Bolshoye Goloustnoye settlement and Listvyanka settlement. Due to the difference in the time of species development it was not possible to collect some specimens, but this will be the task of future expeditions.
A sample of Draparnaldia plumosa was collected in the Mha River. Two bridges cross this river, at one of which the specimens were found. Baikal Draparnaldioides differs from Draparnaldia by its larger size, reticulate chloroplast and filamentous cover.
For convenient identification of each species, schemes with distinctive features are used, which were developed by Lyudmila Alexandrovna Izhboldina, a well-known Baikal algologist who studied biology, morphology and has been engaged in annual mapping of Baikal macrophytes since 1963.
What difficulties were encountered during the project
For DNA isolation, it is necessary to select clean samples. For example, the most difficult to study is the DNA of D. baicalensis. Baicalensis – its mucus has many inhabitants: protozoa, microscopic fungi, unicellular algae, and the DNA solution itself is slimy in water. Never the number of samples collected is not equal to obtaining the necessary nucleotide sequences, because often it is not possible, for example, to completely clear the sample from microscopic fungi. And instead of the nucleotide sequence of Draparnaldioides we get the sequence of some fungus. But by painstaking work we managed to optimise the PCR conditions so well that we got almost perfect sequences.
What this study provides
The results obtained will contribute to understanding the mechanisms of formation of endemic Baikal flora, to enrich international databases with information about macrophytes that play an important role in the Baikal ecosystem. This project is a peculiar impetus for the development of research on Baikal endemics.
In addition, the exposition in the Baikal Museum, which is available to all visitors, will be expanded.
Plans for further study of Baikal macrophytes
The research will be continued. On the basis of molecular-genetic data, the evolutionary history of Baikal endemic genera of cheetophorous algae will be reconstructed. Attempts to cultivate endemic algae in the aquarium complex and on nutrient media will be continued, as well as attempts to create a living exposition in the Baikal Museum.
For more than 20 years there has been virtually no work on assessing the status and distribution of Baikal macrophytes. In 2025, the Baikal Museum plans to carry out a circumnavigational Baikal expedition to map endemic macrophytes.