Intriguing asexual life in marginal populations of the brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus

Reproduction of attached large brown algae is known to occur only by sexual zygotes. Using microsatellites we show evolution of asexual reproduction in the bladder wrack promoting population persistence in the brackish water Baltic Sea (< 6 psu). Here a dwarf morph of Fucus vesiculosus is dominated by a single clone but clonal reproduction is also present in the common form of the species. We describe a possible mechanism for vegetative reproduction of attached algae, and conclude that clonality plays an important role in persistence and dispersal of these marginal populations, in which sexual reproduction is impaired by low salinity