Sharing the researches on the genus Ulva Linnaeus along the Italian coasts

The cosmopolitan genus Ulva Linnaeus includes species of green macroalgae found in marine, brackish and some freshwater environments. Several species show their rapid proliferous growth and their capacity to tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions, producing in some cases “green tides”, and constituting environmental indicators. Although there is a wide literature for the determination of Ulva taxa, they are known for their morphological plasticity and cryptic nature that makes their morphological identification indefensible, so that many synonyms have been generated over time. At present, the knowledge of both diversity and distribution of the genus Ulva in the Mediterranean Sea is almost entirely based on morphological studies and there is only a few published papers dealing with molecular data. However, accurate biodiversity assessment is essential for monitoring biological introductions, and is critical for environmental management as well as for adequately evaluating temporal changes. In this context, preserved specimens of institutional herbarium are a fundamental tool for monitoring these variations. Research conducted on the herbaria PHL (University of Messina) and ISMAR (Institute of Marine Science of Venice), as well as on new collections, allows us to progress on compiling a DNA barcode inventory of most critical taxa in the Mediterranean. Using the plastid marker tufA, new molecular data have been obtained for Ulvaceae samples adding information to the list of Ulva species of the Italian coasts. In order to aid the consultation of the identified samples, digitized specimens and metadata, compiled using Dublin Core and Simple Darwin Core formats, are available on the the open access repository “Archive of Adriatic Studies” (www.archiviostudiadriatici.it) of the Institute of Marine Sciences (CNR-ISMAR) of Venice.