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Investigations on the autecology of Eugomontia sacculata Kornm., A shell-boring alga

1974; Elsevier BV; Volume: 16; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0022-0981(74)90070-7

1879-1697

Martin Wilkinson,

Diatoms and Algae Research

Laboratory culture studies on the salinity and light tolerance of Eugomontia sacculata Kornm, from different habitats suggest that the species has at least two physiological variants adapted to particular habitat conditions. Plants taken from a shallow estuary survived in culture under higher light intensities than plants collected from the sublittoral region, while sublittoral plants were unable to tolerate the reduced salinity in which the estuarine plants were able to live. The host shell may provide protection from unfavourable changes in the external conditions and will also modify some environmental factors such as light intensity and its spectral composition. The possible rôle of light in the morphogenesis of shell-boring algae is discussed.