Acclimation of Antarctic bottom-ice algal communities to lowered salinities during melting

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Ryan, KG, Ralph, P, McMinn, A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer-Verlag 2004
• Subjects: Biological Sciences; Plant Biology; Phycology (incl. Marine Grasses); Antarctic; Antarc*; Polar Biology; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0636-y; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/32173

Sea-ice brine algal communities were exposed to salinities between 30 and 10 during melting. There was a progressive decline in maximum quantum yield, relative electron transfer rate (rETRmax) and photosynthetic efficiency () with decreasing salinity of the final melted sample. While all species showed a drop in these parameters, Fragilariopsis curta and Entomoneis kjellmannii showed the least inhibition. There was a steady increase in rETRmax and alpha; over 5 days after melting, especially in the samples melted into the highest salinities. In addition, the samples melted from the ice without added filtered seawater showed no photosynthetic activity after 2 days. Our results suggest that for experimental work using sea-ice microalgae, the final salinity of the melted sample should be greater than 28 (i.e. the ratio of sea ice to filtered seawater should be at least 1:2). Springer-Verlag 2004.