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Allelopathic effects of Chara species (C. aspera, C. baltica, and C. canescens) on the bloom-forming picocyanobacterium Synechococcus sp.

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Abstract

The role of macroalgal allelopathy in aquatic systems has received increasing attention as a potential means of controlling cyanobacterial blooms. However, the allelopathic activity of Chara sp. on coexisting and bloom-forming picocyanobacteria is still largely unknown. Therefore, the laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the allelopathic activity of extracts of Chara aspera, C. baltica, and C. canescens on the growth, the fluorescence parameters: maximum and effective quantum yield of photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry (Fv/Fm and ΦPSII, respectively) and photosynthesis parameters such as the initial slope of photosynthesis-irradiance (P-E) curves (alpha) and photosynthetic capacity (Pm) of the picocyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. Batch cultures of picocyanobacterium were exposed to three concentrations of extracts originating from three charophyte cultures and the effect was followed at three sampling times. Dried specimens of C. aspera, C. baltica, and C. canescens were extracted in the water-based matrix and the initial Synechococcus sp. inoculum, derived from unialgal culture media, was used. We found both negative and positive allelopathic effects of all tested Chara extracts on Synechococcus sp. The strongest adverse impact of picocyanobacterium growth was caused by C. baltica. This study clearly demonstrated that the allelopathic effect depends on the Chara species identity. Our results also suggested that some allelopathic Chara sp. have the potential to mitigate harmful cyanobacterial blooms in systems dominated by Synechococcus sp.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous Reviewers and Editor for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. This study was supported by BMN grants, Poland, no. 538-G245-B116-18.

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  1. Division of Marine Biology and Ecology, Institute of Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, Av. Piłsudskiego 46, 81-378, Gdynia, Poland

    Ilona Złoch, Marta Kucharska & Wiktoria Kozłowska

  2. Division of Marine Ecosystems Functioning, Institute of Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, Av. Piłsudskiego 46, 81-378, Gdynia, Poland

    Sylwia Śliwińska-Wilczewska

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  1. Ilona Złoch
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Correspondence to Sylwia Śliwińska-Wilczewska.

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Złoch, I., Śliwińska-Wilczewska, S., Kucharska, M. et al. Allelopathic effects of Chara species (C. aspera, C. baltica, and C. canescens) on the bloom-forming picocyanobacterium Synechococcus sp.. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 36403–36411 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3579-5

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