Contrasting Geographical Distributions as a Result of Thermal Tolerance and Long-Distance Dispersal in Two Allegedly Widespread Tropical Brown Algae

Abstract

Tectonically driven rearrangements of physical barriers left an unequivocal imprint on the current diversity patterns of marine macroalgae, as witnessed by the D. crenulata-complex. The nearly circumglobal tropical distribution of D. ciliolata, however, demonstrates that the north-south oriented continents do not present absolute dispersal barriers for species characterized by wide temperature tolerances.