Survival and recovery of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) from prolonged darkness and freezing.

ABSTRACT: The colony-forming haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica is an important primary producer in the Ross Sea, and must survive long periods of darkness and freezing temperature in this extreme environment. We conducted experiments on the responses of P. antarctica-dominated phytoplankton assemblages to prolonged periods of darkness and freezing. Chlorophyll and photosynthetic capacity of the alga declined nonlinearly and independently of each other in the dark, and darkness alone would potentially reduce photosynthetic capacity by only 60 per cent over 150 days (approximately the length of the Antarctic winter in the southern Ross Sea). The estimated reduction of colonial mucous carbon is higher than that of colonial cell carbon, suggesting metabolism of the colonial matrix in the dark. The alga

SUBMITTER: Tang KW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2614241 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature