ENHANCED PHOTOSYNTHETIC ASSIMILATION RATIOS IN ANTARCTIC POLAR FRONT (CONVERGENCE) DIATOMS’

• Main Author: Enrique F. Mandelli
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; Drake Passage; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.516.6118; http://www.aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_12/issue_3/0484.pdf

Diatom populations from the Antarctic Polar Front (convergence) in the Drake Passage area exhibited relatively high photosynthesis: chlorophyll a ratios at light saturation. The permanent water column instability and the adverse meteorological conditions observed in the central Drake Passage area seem to product a light-color stress on the physiology of convergence diatoms that are restricted to a blue-green light environment during their life cycle. The enhanced photosynthesis: chlorophyll a ratios that were determined in experiments with Antarctic Polar Front diatoms when exposed to white (fluorescent) light sources, may bc related to the short-wavelength light background of these diatoms.