SHORT- AND LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF ELEVATED CO2 ON PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND RESPIRATION IN THE MARINE MACROALGA HIZIKIA FUSIFORMIS (SARGASSACEAE, PHAEOPHYTA) GROWN AT LOW AND HIGH N SUPPLIES(1).

Abstract

The short-term and long-term effects of elevated CO2 on photosynthesis and respiration were examined in cultures of the marine brown macroalga Hizikia fusiformis (Harv.) Okamura grown under ambient (375 μL · L(-1) ) and elevated (700 μL · L(-1) ) CO2 concentrations and at low and high N availability. Short-term exposure to CO2 enrichment stimulated photosynthesis, and this stimulation was maintained with prolonged growth at elevated CO2 , regardless of the N levels in culture, indicating no down-regulation of photosynthesis with prolonged growth at elevated CO2 . However, the photosynthetic rate of low-N-grown H. fusiformis was more responsive to CO2 enrichment than that of high-N-grown algae. Elevation of CO2 concentration increased the value of K1/2 (Ci) (the half-saturation constant) for photosynthesis, whereas high N supply lowered it. Neither short-term nor long-term CO2 enrichment had inhibitory effects on respiration rate, irrespective of the N supply, under which the algae were grown. Under high-N growth, the Q10 value of respiration was higher in the elevated-CO2 -grown algae than the ambient-CO2 -grown algae. Either short- or long-term exposure to CO2 enrichment decreased respiration as a proportion of gross photosynthesis (Pg) in low-N-grown H. fusiformis. It was proposed that in a future world of higher atmospheric CO2 concentration and simultaneous coastal eutrophication, the respiratory carbon flux would be more sensitive to changing temperature.