Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS08 Processes at the Benthic Interface (Environmental Connections)

Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2001, Time: 2:15:00 PM

Location: Ruidoso/Pecos

Barranguet, C, , University of Amstedam/IBED, Amsterdam, Netherlands, barranguet@bio.uva.nl

Van der Grinten, E, , University of Amsterdam/IBED, Amsterdam, Netherlands, grinten@bio.uva.nl

Janssen, A, , University of Amsterdam/IBED, Amsterdam, Netherlands, arni_j@hotmail.com

De Mutsert, K, , University of Amsterdam/IBED, Amsterdam, Netherlands, mutsert@bio.uva.nl

Admiraal, W, , University of Amsterdam/IBED, Amsterdam, Netherlands, admiraal@bio.uva.nl

COEXISTENCE OF MICROBENTHIC ALGAL SPECIES GROWN IN A GRADIENT OF TEMPERATURE AND LIGHT INTENSITY.

The influence of temperature and light intensity on the growth rate of three species of benthic microalgae was assessed in both monospecific cultures and in mixtures of two species. The microalgae used for the experiments were the diatoms Nitzschia perminuta, Navicula trivialis and the filamentous cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya foveolarum. The microalgae were grown on glass beads at a constant light intensity and at a range of temperatures from 7 to 30 degrees C or at a single temperature, with light intensities ranging from 5 to 250 micromol m-2 s-1. Growth rates were measured by particle counting, chlorophyll and dark fluorescence with PAM. A PHYTOPAM fluorimeter allowed the discrimination of the fluorescence signal of diatoms and cyanobacteria in the mixed culture. It appeared that the algae reached the same biomass when grown separately or in mixtures, but the growth of each species in the gradients was modified by the coexistence, suggesting the effect of competition mechanisms affecting the final outcome of the population.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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