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Autecology and clonal variability of the marine centric diatom Thalassiosira rotula (Bacillariophyceae) in response to light, temperature and salinity

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Abstract

The influence of 49 combinations of salinity (10–40‰ S, at 5‰ S intervals) and temperature (0°–30°C, at 5C° intervals) on the maximum daily division rate (K) and 18 combinations of light intensity (six levels) and temperature (5°, 15°, and 25°C) on photosynthesis, cell division, and chlorophyll a was examined using two clones of Thalassiosira rotula Meunier isolated from the upwelling area of Baja California (clone C8) and from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Islands (clone A8). Physiological differences appear to characterize these to clones with regard to their temperature tolerance (C8 5°–30°C, A8 0°–25°C), maximum growth rate (C8 K=2.9, A8 K=2.4), chlorophyll a content, and in the rates of growth and photosynthesis in response to light intensity and temperature. Optimum salinity for both clones (25–30‰ S) was generally independent of temperature, while chlorophyll a content decreased with temperature. T. rotula is a cosmopolitan paractic species; experimental studies indicate that it is eurythermal and moderately euryhaline. Comparison of five additional Narragansett Bay isolates of T. rotula reveal minimal spacial or temporal variability in genetically determined physiological characteristics within this local population.

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  1. Richard W. Krawiec

    Present address: Biotechnology Newswatch, McGraw-Hill Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, 10020, New York, NY, USA

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  1. Department of Botany, University of Rhode Island, 02881, Kingston, Rhode Island, USA

    Richard W. Krawiec

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  1. Richard W. Krawiec
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Communicated by S. K. Pierce, College Park

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Krawiec, R.W. Autecology and clonal variability of the marine centric diatom Thalassiosira rotula (Bacillariophyceae) in response to light, temperature and salinity. Mar. Biol. 69, 79–89 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00396964

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