Studies on sporulation and propagation in selected agarophytes

Studies on sporulation of four commercially important red (sea-weeds) algae ^(agarophytes) namely Gelidiella acerosa, Gracilaria corticata, G edulis and Hypnea musciformis growing in the vicinity of’ Mandapam coast were carried out from October 1981 to September 1983. During the two years of study; fruiting behavior in the natural population of these species was also investigated. Laboratory experiments were carried out with the four algae sea weeds to collect information on seasonal aspects of spore production and diurnal variation of spore shedding. Detailed studies were made under laboratory conditions to know the effects of some selected environmental factors such as desiccation, salinity, temperature, light intensity and photoperiod on spore output in Gelidiella acerosa, Gracilaria edulis and kypnea musciformis hydrological data were also collected from the inter-tial region around mandapam area. The result obtained on all the above aspects are presented in this thesis