Integrated Responses to Simulated Submarine Groundwater Discharge; Tissue Water Potential, Photosynthesis, and Growth Comparisons for Two Intertidal Algae Species
| dc.contributor.advisor | Smith, Celia | |
| dc.contributor.author | Gibson, Veronica | |
| dc.contributor.department | Oceanography | |
| dc.contributor.department | Global Environmental Science | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-04-25T01:36:25Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-04-25T01:36:25Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2012 | |
| dc.description.course | OCN 499 - Undergraduate Thesis | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10125/67747 | |
| dc.publisher.place | Honolulu | |
| dc.subject | algae | |
| dc.subject | marine ecology | |
| dc.subject | biological oceanography | |
| dc.title | Integrated Responses to Simulated Submarine Groundwater Discharge; Tissue Water Potential, Photosynthesis, and Growth Comparisons for Two Intertidal Algae Species | |
| dc.type | Thesis | |
| dcterms.abstract | Marine algae are typically considered ocean plants with their water relations set to fully saline marine waters. In oceanic islands however, reef algae can be subjected to periodic to daily fluctuations in osmotic potential of the ambient waters as fresh-water runoff and submarine groundwater discharges can lower salinities. In contrast, tidal exposure can increase tissue water potential, even above 34 ‰, as water loss from evaporation concentrates remaining salts from seawater. With submarine groundwater discharge, recent studies have shown substantial nutrient influx carried by freshwater sources. To acquire nutrients required for growth and survival, algae around oceanic islands must be able to tolerate the osmotic challenges within the algal cells driven by widely variable changes in external salinity. Here we test the ability of two co-occurring tidal red algae, Acanthophora spicifera and Laurencia mcdermidiae, to regulate their tissue water potential in response to simulated diurnal pulses of high nutrient, low salinity submarine groundwater discharge. The tissue water potential of treated and untreated specimens will be tested using the Chardakov method, photosynthesis will be estimated via electron transport rate measurements and changes in biomass will be used to assess overall fitness. Some algal species may be expected to have more efficient physiological responses for maintaining a functional intercellular solute potential when exposed to changes in salinity because this trait has been selected for where large daily salinity changes have been seen. It is expected that the invasive, bloom forming species, A. spicifera, will tolerate the experimental lowered salinity, high nutrient pulses because A. spicifera has developed a unique physiological ability to adapt to this kind of stress. If the invasive species is more effective in nutrient uptake under extreme conditions this information could further our understanding of algal bloom dynamics, distributions of species and how to better manage marine ecosystems. | |
| dcterms.extent | 47 pages | |
| dcterms.language | English | |
| dcterms.publisher | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa | |
| dcterms.rights | All UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner. | |
| dcterms.rightsholder | Gibson, Veronica | |
| dcterms.type | Text |
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