Salinity and irradiance effects on growth and maximum photosynthetic quantum yield in subarctic Saccharina latissima (Laminariales, Laminariaceae)
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Tania Spurkland
and
Katrin Iken
Abstract
In subarctic regions, melting of glaciers creates stressful environmental conditions, such as reduced salinity and irradiance, in coastal benthic habitats such as kelp beds. Our goal was to determine whether these stressors differently affect kelp juveniles of Saccharina latissima originating from two environmentally distinct shores; one under oceanic and one under estuarine glacial influence. Laboratory tests assessed the effects of varying salinities and irradiances on growth and maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm) of photosystem II of S. latissima. Overall, growth rates decreased with decreased salinity and irradiance. Growth rates of juveniles from the glacially influenced shore were significantly lower than those of the oceanic shore in most salinity and irradiances treatments. Juveniles from both shores grew negligibly at salinities below 13 and an irradiance of 5 μmol photons m-2 s-1. At salinity 10, Fv/Fm was significantly reduced but Fv/Fm was not affected by decreased irradiance. S. latissima proved to be relatively tolerant to reduced salinities and irradiances but we detected limits to its resilience. Our results suggest that S. latissima populations exhibit phenotypic plasticity in their growth responses. This plasticity appears to be constrained within specific seasonal growth patterns in accordance with their environment of origin.
©2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Review
- Are there more marine fungi to be described?
- Research Articles
- Salinity and irradiance effects on growth and maximum photosynthetic quantum yield in subarctic Saccharina latissima (Laminariales, Laminariaceae)
- Identifying nitrogen sources for macroalgal growth in variously polluted coastal areas of southern Vietnam
- Spatio-temporal patterns and nutrient status of macroalgae in a heavily managed region of Biscayne Bay, Florida, USA
- Evidence for multiple introductions of the Pacific green alga Ulva australis Areschoug (Ulvales, Chlorophyta) to the Iberian Peninsula
- Lithothamnion carpoklonion sp. nov. (Melobesioideae, Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from Puerto Rico, Caribbean Sea: an epiphytic encrusting coralline alga producing conceptacle protuberances
- Primary production and biomass in a Cymodocea nodosa meadow in the Ghar El Melh lagoon, Tunisia
