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PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND CELL DIVISION BY ANTARCTIC MICROALGAE: COMPARISON OF BENTHIC, PLANKTONIC AND ICE ALGAE 1
Author(s) -
Rivkin Richard B.,
Putt Mary
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of phycology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.85
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1529-8817
pISSN - 0022-3646
DOI - 10.1111/j.1529-8817.1987.tb04129.x
Subject(s) - algae , biology , photosynthesis , plankton , benthic zone , photoinhibition , botany , irradiance , oceanography , ecology , photosystem ii , physics , quantum mechanics , geology
Irradiance‐dependent rates of photosynthesis and cell division of six species of microalgae isolated from the benthos, plankton and sea ice microbial community in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica were compared. Microalgae isolated from different photic environments had distinct photosynthetic and growth characteristics. For benthic and ice algae, photosynthesis saturated at 6 to 20 μE.m −2 .s −1 and was photoinhibited at 10 to 80 μE.m −2 .s −1 while for the planktonic algae, saturation irradiances were up to 13 times higher and photoinhibition was not detected. The slope of the light‐limited portion of the P‐I relationship was up to 50 times greater for the benthic algae than for either the ice or planktonic algae suggesting that benthic algae used the low irradiances more efficiently for carbon uptake. Cell division was dependent on the incubation irradiance for all but one microalga examined. The dependence of division rates on irradiance was however much smaller than for carbon uptake, suggesting that cell division buffers the influence of short term variations of irradiance on cellular metabolism.