Calcification in the maerl coralline alga Phymatolithon calcareum: Effects of salinity and temperature

Abstract

The coralline alga Phymatolithon calcareum was dredged from 13 m in the Kattegatt, Baltic Sea, in December, 1980, and its rate of calcification was measured by ⁴⁵Ca⁺⁺-uptake methods. Light-saturated calcification rates at 5°C ranged from 15.8 μg CaCO₃ g^-1 dry wt h^-1 for the basal parts of the plants to 38.7 μg CaCO₃ g^-1 dry wt h^-1 for the tips. These “age” gradients were not apparent when calcification rates were expressed on the basis of surface area. Experiments with salinity (10, 20, 30‰) and temperature (0°, 5°, 10°, 20°C) indicated that optimum conditions for calcification were at 30‰ S and at temperatures above 10°C. Salinity had a greater influence on calcification rate than did temperature, and there was a positive relationship between salinity and calcification rate at all temperatures. In 6 mo old cultures, salinity was again the important factor, with all plants remaining healthy at 30‰ except those at the highest temperature (20°C). These trends, and the low calcification rates at 10‰S (4.6 μg CaCO₃ g^-1 dry wt h^-1 at 5°C to 8.6 μg CaCO₃g^-1 dry wt h^-1 at 20°C) suggest that low salinity may be the explanation for the general absence of P. calcareum from the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea. Short-term experiments in which salinity was kept constant while Ca⁺⁺ concentration was altered, and experiments in which salinity was varied and Ca⁺⁺ concentration kept constant, suggest that it is the calcium ion concentration and not salinity per se which affects calcification rates.