The effect of irradiance and temperature on the photosynthesis of two agarophytes Gelidium elegans and Pterocladiella tenuis (Gelidiales) from Kagoshima, Japan

Abstract

The effect of irradiance and temperature on the photosynthesis of two Japanese agarophytes, Gelidium elegans and Pterocladiella tenuis (Gelidiales), was determined using dissolved oxygen sensors and pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry. Gross photosynthesis and dark respiration rates were determined over a range of temperatures (8–36 °C). The highest gross photosynthetic rates were 40.3 and 37.0 mg O2 gww−1 min−1 and occurred at 24.3 and 25.5 °C [95 % Bayesian credible interval (BCI) 20.7–28.0 and 23.4–28.3 °C], respectively. The dark respiration rate in G. elegans and P. tenuis increased with increasing temperature at a rate of 0.10 and 0.31 mg O2 gww−1 min−1 °C−1 , respectively. Modeling the net photosynthesis–irradiance (P–E) responses of G. elegans and P. tenuis at 20 °C revealed that the net photosynthetic rates quickly increased at irradiance levels below the estimated saturation irradiance of 88 and 83 µmol photons m−2 s−1, with a compensation irradiance of 14 and 19 µmol photons m−2 s−1, respectively. The highest value of the maximum effective quantum yield (ΦPSII) occurred at 20.1 °C (BCI 18.9–21.5 °C) and 21.3 °C (BCI 20.2–22.5 °C) for G. elegans and P. tenuis and was 0.49 and 0.45, respectively. These optimal temperatures of ΦPSII were relatively lower than those determined by the photosynthesis–temperature model of oxygen evolution. The temperature response of these species indicates that they are probably well adapted to the current range of seawater temperatures in the study site but that they are near the boundary of their tolerable limits.