Ulva sp.

3.2 Ulva sp. NC 2 - Ulva prolifera

Ulva prolifera (sp. NC 2) was resolved in a clade that had moderate to full (BS 83; PP 1.0) and good to full (BS 90; PP 1.0) support in the tufA and rbc L analyses, respectively. Ulva prolifera was geographically dispersed across the North Carolina coast and found in a variety of habitats with varying salinities ( Figure 5 View Figure 5 ). Morpho-anatomically, North Carolina U. prolifera specimens exhibited all three general morphology types: bladed, tubular, and ‘ linza-morphotype ’, and only morpho-anatomical characters 5, absence of dentate blade margins, and 19, cell length:width ratios, were consistent within the species ( Table 3, Figure 6E – G View Figure 6 ).