Figures 5–8 in More than meets the eye: regional specialisation and microbial cover of the blade of Porphyra umbilicalis (Bangiophyceae, Rhodophyta)

Figures 5–8: Microbial colonisation of holdfast regions of wild blades. (5) A peeling area of mucilage and/or biofilm shows the intimate association of bacteria within mucilage on a flat surface adjacent to the holdfast, and most of the bacteria are rod-shaped or filamentous. Communities surrounding the holdfast disc contain dense, often encrusting, masses of epiphytic bacteria, but become patchier towards the centre of the blade (Figure 6). (7–8) At higher magnification of the area shown in Figure 6, microbial community diversity is apparent, and it includes bacteria that are structurally similar to some of the baeocyte-producing pleurocapsalean cyanobacteria. White arrow in Figure 7 shows an intact individual, and black arrows in Figures 7 and 8 indicate possible baeocyte/endospore release and mucilage trails from epiphytes on two different wild plants.