TRANSFER OF PRODUCTS BETWEEN EPIPHYTIC MARINE ALGAE AND HOST PLANTS1,2

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Abstract
SUMMARY: The red alga Smithora naiadum is normally found only as an epiphyle on the sea grasses Phyllospadix scouleri and Zostera marina. I used 32P and 14CO2 to examine the chemical communication between host and alga. Both 32P and the product of 14CO2 light fixation moved from the host to the alga. Reverse movement between host and epiphyte was also demonstrated. Part of this transfer occurred through the plant and part occurred by leakage from the host into the medium and subsequent uptake by the alga. Although plants were initially labeled in the light, transfer of 14C was light independent.Transfer of 14C‐labeled products between host and epiphyte was also shown for Punctaria orbiculata and Z. marina; for Microdadia coulteri on Grateloupia doryphora, and between Gonimophyllum skottsbergii and Botryoglossum ruprechtiana. Epiphyte‐host associations do not require a penetrating rhizoid for an exchange of the isotopes tested. By their proximity alone, epiphytic flora are apparently capable l exchanging products before these are diluted by the sea.