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Photosynthetic responses of Halophila stipulacea to a light gradient. II. Acclimations following transplantation

2009; Inter-Research; Volume: 7; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3354/ab00148

2195-2744

Yoray Sharon, João Silva, Rui Santos, JW Runcie, Mark Chernihovsky, Sven Beer,

Marine and coastal ecosystems

AB Aquatic Biology Contact the journal Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections AB 7:153-157 (2009) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00148 Theme Section: Primary production in seagrasses and macroalgae: closing the GAP between concepts and measurements Photosynthetic responses of Halophila stipulacea to a light gradient. II. Acclimations following transplantation Yoni Sharon1,2,*, João Silva3, Rui Santos3, John W. Runcie4, Mark Chernihovsky2, Sven Beer1 1Department of Plant Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 60078, Israel 2The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, POB 469, Eilat 88103, Israel 3ALGAE - Marine Plant Ecology Research Group, Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal 4School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia *Email: spondylus.spinosus@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Halophila stipulacea is the dominant seagrass in the Gulf of Aqaba (northern Red Sea), where it grows from the intertidal to depths exceeding 50 m. Its successful growth under such a broad irradiance gradient shows either a high plasticity or is caused by longer-term adaptations to the various depths, possibly resulting in the formation of ecotypes. In April 2008 we transplanted shoots of this seagrass between the extreme depths of its distribution at the study site (8 and 33 m) in order to evaluate its acclimation potential to various irradiances. We compared photosynthetic parameters derived from light response curves generated by PAM fluorometry (so-called rapid light curves, RLC) and measured chlorophyll a and b concentrations. RLCs from the shallow (~400 µmol photons m–2 s–1 at midday) and deep (~35 µmol photons m–2 s–1 at midday) sites were characteristic for high- and low-light growing plants, respectively, and the transplanted seagrasses acclimated to their new environments within 6 d, at which time their RLCs resembled those of the original plants growing at the depths to which they had been transplanted. Concentrations of both chlorophyll a and b decreased or increased when the plants were transferred to high- vs. low-light environments, respectively, but the chlorophyll a:b ratios remained constant. These fast changes in photosynthetic responses and light absorption characteristics in response to changing light environments points to Halophila stipulacea as being a highly plastic seagrass with regard to irradiance, which may partly explain its abundance across a wide range of irradiances along the depth gradient that it occupies. KEY WORDS: Acclimation · Depth gradient · Halophila stipulacea · Irradiance · Photosynthesis · Pigments · Seagrass Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Sharon Y, Silva J, Santos R, Runcie JW, Chernihovsky M, Beer S (2009) Photosynthetic responses of Halophila stipulacea to a light gradient. II. Acclimations following transplantation. Aquat Biol 7:153-157. https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00148 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AB Vol. 7, No. 1-2. Online publication date: October 22, 2009 Print ISSN: 1864-7782; Online ISSN: 1864-7790 Copyright © 2009 Inter-Research.