Epiphytic diatom flora of Weno Island, Micronesia

Abstract

The marine diatom flora of the tropical western Pacific island of Chuuk lagoon is unknown. In order to understand the epiphytic diatom flora of the Weno Island, we collected four macroalgae (Halimeda sp., Padina sp., Sargassum sp., Dictyocha sp.) that distributed throughout at 5 subtidal sites by snorkeling. The epiphytic diatoms detached from the thalli of the macroalgae by vigorously shaking and treated with acid cleaning. Prepared materials were mounted in Pleurax and observed in light microscopy. Following several taxonomic/systematic papers, this floristics paper documents 167 diatoms, which is a step towards the development of the regional flora. Diatom compositions did not related to the macroalgal substrate, but the diatom richness were different by the sampling sites. Many taxa remain to be identified from the documentation and few samples have been analyzed from other habitats such as coral reefs and mangroves. Over 80% of the species in this checklist also occurred in lists from the other coral reef regions such as Reunion and Rodrigues Islands, West Indian Ocean&#8212 but all regions remain seriously undersampled. We note some apparent differences in common and distinctive species.a sp.) that distributed throughout at 5 subtidal sites by snorkeling. The epiphytic diatoms detached from the thalli of the macroalgae by vigorously shaking and treated with acid cleaning. Prepared materials were mounted in Pleurax and observed in light microscopy. Following several taxonomic/systematic papers, this floristics paper documents 167 diatoms, which is a step towards the development of the regional flora. Diatom compositions did not related to the macroalgal substrate, but the diatom richness were different by the sampling sites. Many taxa remain to be identified from the documentation and few samples have been analyzed from other habitats such as coral reefs and mangroves. Over 80% of the species in this checklist also occurred in lists from the other coral reef regions such as Reunion and Rodrigues Islands, West Indian Ocean&#8212 but all regions remain seriously undersampled. We note some apparent differences in common and distinctive species.