Influence of salinity, temperature, dissolved inorganic carbon and nutrient concentration on the photosynthesis and growth of Fucus vesiculosus from the Baltic and Irish Seas

Abstract

Fucus vesiculosus from the northern Baltic Sea (5 psu) and from the Irish Sea (35 psu) were cultivated at different temperatures, salinities and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations with the addition of different nutrient concentrations. The influence of these abiotic factors was assessed by measuring photosynthesis as electron transport rate (ETR) and growth as relative growth rate (RGR). The maximal ETR and the RGR of the Irish Sea plants in their natural seawater (50.8 µmol electrons m⁻² s⁻¹; 0.024 g g⁻¹ day⁻¹) were significantly higher than those of the Baltic plants in their natural seawater (21.9 µmol electrons m⁻² s⁻¹; 0.007 g g⁻¹ day⁻¹). When Baltic F. vesiculosus was cultivated at a DIC concentration similar to that of the Irish Sea, the ETR as well as RGR increased, but never equalled the rates of the marine F. vesiculosus from the Irish Sea. Cultivation at different salinities showed that F. vesiculosus from the Baltic has a higher ETR_max and RGR at low salinities (5–10 psu) than F. vesiculosus from the Irish Sea, whose ETR and RGR decreased sharply in salinities below 20 psu. Plants from both sites grown at high nutrient concentrations, however, performed better at low salinities than those grown under low nutrient conditions. Salinity had the greatest impact on differences in ETR and RGR between the two populations, followed by differences in DIC and nutrient concentrations. There was a highly significant correlation between ETR_max and RGR in plants from both sites and across the full range of culture conditions, indicating that the same amount of energy from photosynthesis is used for growth in both varieties of the species at different salinities. The photosynthesis of F. vesiculosus in the northern Baltic is close to the minimum demand for growth, which may account for their small size. The temperature optimum for F. vesiculosus from the Baltic was 4–10°C, while that for F. vesiculosus from the Irish Sea was 15–20°C. The photosynthesis of Irish Sea plants was less strongly affected by exposure to high irradiances than that of plants from the Baltic.

Keywords:

• Baltic Sea
• dissolved inorganic carbon
• electron transport rate
• Fucus vesiculosus
• growth
• high irradiance
• Irish Sea
• nutrients
• photosynthesis
• salinity
• temperature

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dan Isaksson and Maurice O’Connor for field assistance during algal collection, Nils G.A. Ekelund for valuable support and discussion, Nigel Tooke for comments and corrections and Tomas Palo for help with statistics. Much of the work was conducted while C.N. held a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Commission (HPMT-CT-2001-00268).