Abstract
The photosynthetic response to irradiance wasquantified for phytoplankton from the tidalfreshwater Potomac River biweekly to monthly over aperiod of six years. Samples were collected from twoshallow embayments and portions of the deeper rivermainstem. Photosynthetic rate was measured in thelaboratory at in situ temperature over a range ofirradiance levels and photosynthetic parameters werecalculated using nonlinear regression.PBmax,the maximum photosynthetic ratestandardized to chlorophyll a, increased withtemperature up to 25 °C with a Q10 of 2.02. Above 25 °C, PBmax was essentiallyconstant with temperature. Lesser correlationbetween PBmax and ambient irradiance couldbe explained by the correlation of irradiance withtemperature. α, the slope of the P–I curve atlow light, was correlated with both ambientirradiance and temperature. Highest α valueswere found in late summer when high temperature andintermediate ambient irradiance were observed. Spring and early summer were characterized by lowα. Despite low light penetration, Ik andα values were indicative of sun limitationpossibly due to intermittent high light levelsexperienced during mixing. Ik showed a clearseasonal trend directly related to days from summersolstice. Spatial patterns were minimal except thatIk was consistently lower in one shallowembayment than in the other two areas. Seasonalpatterns in photosynthetic parameters correspondedroughly to changes from a spring diatom populationto summer cyanobacterial assemblage.
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