A taxonomic study of seaweeds of North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Biodiversity has become a world issue recognized not only by conservationists but also by politicians and other concerned people. The increased interest in biodiversity has generated a need for more information on species occurrence and distribution, and thus taxonomic information has again become essential. The chance of conserving any biological resource is improved if such a resource is fully identified and named. As basic information, taxonomy provides classification, nomenclature, description and identification aids. This can lead to more effective communication about conservation problems and effective action on how to solve such problems. Above all, species identification is a fundamental prerequisite for most biological studies. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is renowned for its biodiversity. Differences in its geological origin have resulted in a diverse and distinct fauna and flora in different regions. Ecologically, it is more diverse, complex and, in most parts, unknown, than perhaps any other part of the world. More than half of Indonesian territory is sea, and there are thousands of kilometers of coastline. Given the large shoreline, seaweeds are a common component of the marine biota. However, seaweeds of Indonesia as a whole have received little attention and even less is known about their possible biogeographic relationships. This present study deals with seaweeds of North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The main objective of this study was to collect and identify seaweeds of North Sulawesi. The other objective was to place this current information into the context of what is known of the Indonesian seaweeds. In this study, a total of 67 species within 37 genera of seaweeds have been recognized. This total consists of 29 taxa of Chlorophyta, 12 taxa of Phaeophyta and 26 taxa of noncoralline Rhodophyta. This information is compared with those of the Siboga Expedition, the Danish Expedition, the Snellius-ll Expedition and the Buginesia-lll Project. Keys to the genera and/or species, description of each taxon, local distribution and the depth are also included along with some photographs of the habit of species.Science, Faculty ofBotany, Department ofGraduat