Survival and recovery of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing
The colony-forming haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica is an important primary producer in the Ross Sea, and must survive long periods of darkness and freezing temperature in this extreme environment. We conducted experiments on the responses of P. antarctica -dominated phytoplankton assemblages to pr...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Royal Society
2008
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 |
id |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 2024-09-15T17:41:13+00:00 Survival and recovery of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing Tang, Kam W Smith, Walker O Shields, Amy R Elliott, David T 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 276, issue 1654, page 81-90 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2008 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 2024-07-15T04:26:38Z The colony-forming haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica is an important primary producer in the Ross Sea, and must survive long periods of darkness and freezing temperature in this extreme environment. We conducted experiments on the responses of P. antarctica -dominated phytoplankton assemblages to prolonged periods of darkness and freezing. Chlorophyll and photosynthetic capacity of the alga declined nonlinearly and independently of each other in the dark, and darkness alone would potentially reduce photosynthetic capacity by only 60 per cent over 150 days (approximately the length of the Antarctic winter in the southern Ross Sea). The estimated reduction of colonial mucous carbon is higher than that of colonial cell carbon, suggesting metabolism of the colonial matrix in the dark. The alga quickly resumed growth upon return to light. Phaeocystis antarctica also survived freezing, although longer freezing durations lengthened the lag before growth resumption. Particulate dimethylsulfoniopropionate relative to chlorophyll increased upon freezing and decreased upon darkness. Taken together, the abilities of P. antarctica to survive freezing and initiate growth quickly after darkness may provide it with the capability to survive in both the ice and the water column, and help explain its repeated dominance in austral spring blooms in the Ross Sea and elsewhere in the Southern Ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean The Royal Society Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 276 1654 81 90 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
The colony-forming haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica is an important primary producer in the Ross Sea, and must survive long periods of darkness and freezing temperature in this extreme environment. We conducted experiments on the responses of P. antarctica -dominated phytoplankton assemblages to prolonged periods of darkness and freezing. Chlorophyll and photosynthetic capacity of the alga declined nonlinearly and independently of each other in the dark, and darkness alone would potentially reduce photosynthetic capacity by only 60 per cent over 150 days (approximately the length of the Antarctic winter in the southern Ross Sea). The estimated reduction of colonial mucous carbon is higher than that of colonial cell carbon, suggesting metabolism of the colonial matrix in the dark. The alga quickly resumed growth upon return to light. Phaeocystis antarctica also survived freezing, although longer freezing durations lengthened the lag before growth resumption. Particulate dimethylsulfoniopropionate relative to chlorophyll increased upon freezing and decreased upon darkness. Taken together, the abilities of P. antarctica to survive freezing and initiate growth quickly after darkness may provide it with the capability to survive in both the ice and the water column, and help explain its repeated dominance in austral spring blooms in the Ross Sea and elsewhere in the Southern Ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tang, Kam W Smith, Walker O Shields, Amy R Elliott, David T |
spellingShingle |
Tang, Kam W Smith, Walker O Shields, Amy R Elliott, David T Survival and recovery of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing |
author_facet |
Tang, Kam W Smith, Walker O Shields, Amy R Elliott, David T |
author_sort |
Tang, Kam W |
title |
Survival and recovery of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing |
title_short |
Survival and recovery of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing |
title_full |
Survival and recovery of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing |
title_fullStr |
Survival and recovery of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing |
title_full_unstemmed |
Survival and recovery of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing |
title_sort |
survival and recovery of phaeocystis antarctica (prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 276, issue 1654, page 81-90 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0598 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
276 |
container_issue |
1654 |
container_start_page |
81 |
op_container_end_page |
90 |
_version_ |
1810487355826503680 |