ABSTRACT
Kelps (order Laminariales, Phaeophyceae) constitute one to several meter long marine brown algae, which are characteristic for temperate to polar coastal ecosystems and are of a large economic importance, especially the genera Laminaria, Saccharina, Undaria, and Macrocystis. The life cycle of these huge plants alters between the macroscopic diploid sporophyte and the microscopic haploid male and female gametophytes. This life cycle is a prerequisite for kelp farming and unialgal kelp experimentation in the laboratory. The need to produce a consistently high-quality product in kelp farms can be secured through the use of clonal gametophytes. Clonal gametophytes further serve in controlled hybridization experiments either for basic science or for development of specific cultivars. This chapter describes how kelp spores can be artificially released, sown, and propagated to isolate gametophyte clones. A short introduction into the set up of kelp hybridization experiments is given at the end. Gametophyte isolation is a tedious process and takes several months until the product can be used. However, the benefit is high. Gametophyte clones may be regarded as seed pools and keep their ability to become fertile over decades. Thereby they may be used for strain preservation and conservation purposes and for scientific experiments.
Keywords: Clonal gametophytes, crossing experiments, hybridization, isolation, kelp, spore release
