Abstract
Nitrogen uptake, assimilation and accumulation were studied in three populations of Gracilaria pacifica Abbott in Bamfield Inlet, British Columbia, Canada, over three summers, 1979–1981. Two of these populations were in the intertidal one high and one low, and the third was a subtidal cultured population. Nitrate uptake rates, internal nitrate content and nitrate reductase activities were highest in the low intertidal population. Time-courses of uptake and uptake kinetics were studied. Both nitrate and ammonium were taken up simultaneously. Thalli from the high-intertidal population showed enhanced nitrate and ammonium uptake following mild desiccation, and greater tolerance to desiccation in terms of maintaining nitrogen uptake after severe desiccation. Transplants were made to determine the effect of intertidal height and geographic location on responses to desiccation, nitrogen uptake, assimilation and accumulation. Nitrate and ammonium uptake rates were dependent on intertidal height and geographic location. Transplanting up the intertidal increased nitrate uptake and nitrate reductase activity, but decreased the nitrate content of the thalli. There were few significant differences in ammonium uptake rates, and ammonium, amino acid, and soluble-protein content of the various populations. All high-intertidal populations, transplanted or natural, showed enhanced nitrate uptake rates following desiccation. Enhanced ammonium uptake rates following desiccation were restricted to the high-intertidal thalli in only one geographic location. Tolerance to higher levels of desiccation also appeared to be intertidal height-dependent, but required more than five weeks to fully develop or disappear.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature cited
Abbott, I. A.: New species of Gracilaria Grev. (Gracilariacea, Rhodophyta) from California and Hawaii. In: Taxonomy of economic seaweeds, pp 115–121. Ed. by I. A. Abbott. La Jolla, California: Sea Grant Publishers 1985
Bird, C. J., J. P. Van der Meer and J. McLachlan: A comment on Gracilaria verrucosa (Huds.) Papenf. (Rhodophyta: Gigartinales). J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 62, 453–459 (1982)
Conway, H. L.: Interactions of inorganic nitrogen in the uptake and assimilation by marine phytoplankton. Mar. Biol. 39, 221–232 (1977)
Conway, H. L., P. J. Harrison and C. O. Davis: Marine diatoms grown in chemostats under silicate or ammonium limitation. II. Transient response of Skeletonema costatum to a single addition of the limiting nutrient. Mar. Biol. 35, 187–199 (1976)
Davis, C. O., P. J. Harrison and R. C. Dugdale: Continuous culture of marine diatoms under silicate limitation. I. Synchronized life cycle of Skeletonema costatum. J. Phycol. 9, 175–180 (1973)
D'Elia, C. F. and J. A. DeBoer: Nutritional studies of two red algae. II. Kinetics of ammonium and nitrate uptake. J. Phycol. 14, 266–272 (1978)
Dring, M. J. and F. A. Brown: Photosynthesis of intertidal brown algae during and after periods of emersion. A renewed search for physiological causes of zonation. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 8, 301–308 (1982)
Guillard, R. R. L. and J. H. Ryther: Studies on marine planktonic diatoms. I. Cyclotella nana (Hustedt) and Detonula confervaceae (Cleve) Gran. Can. J. Microbiol. 8, 229–239 (1962)
Hanisak, M. D. and M. M. Harlin: Uptake of inorganic nitrogen by Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides (Chlorophyta). J Phycol. 14, 450–454 (1978)
Jones, H. G. and T. A. Norton: Internal factors controlling the rate of evaporation from fronds of some intertidal algae. New Phytol. 83, 771–781 (1979)
Lee, Y. P. and T. Takahashi: An improved colorimetric determination of amino acids with the use of ninhydrin. Analyt. Biochem. 14, 17–77 (1966)
Leggett-Bailey, J.: Miscellaneous analytical methods: estimation of protein Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. In: Techniques in protein chemistry, 2nd. ed. pp 340–342. New York: Elsevier 1967
Lindsay, J. G. and R. G. Saunders: Experiments with Gracilaria in a floading algal culture system, 40 pp. Victoria, British Columbia: Ministry of Environment 1979 (Fisheries Development Report No. 17)
Morgan, K. C. and F. J. Simpson: The cultivation of Palmaria palmata. Effect of light intensity and nitrate supply on growth and chemical composition. Botanica mar. 24, 273–277 (1981)
Probyn, T. A. and A. R. O. Chapman: Nitrogen uptake characteristics of Chordaria flagelliformis (Phaeophyta) in batch mode and continuous mode experiments. Mar. Biol. 71, 129–133 (1982)
Rosenberg, G. and J. Ramus: Ecological growth strategies in the seaweeds Gracilaria follifera (Rhodophyceae) and Ulva sp. (Chlorophyceae): soluble nitrogen and reserve carbohydrates. Mar. Biol. 66, 251–259 (1982)
Ryther, J. H., N. Corwin, T. A. DeBusk and L. D. Williams: Nitrogen uptake and storage by the red alga Gracilaria tikvahiae (McLachlan, 1979). Aquaculture, Amsterdam 26, 107–115 (1982)
Thomas, T. E.: Ecological aspects of nitrogen uptake in intertidal macrophytes, 207 pp. Ph.D. thesis, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada 1983
Thomas, T. E. and P. J. Harrison: Effect of nitrogen supply on nitrogen uptake, accumulation and assimilation in Porphyra perforata (Rhodophyta). Mar. Biol. 85, 269–278 (1985)
Thomas, T. E. and P. J. Harrison: In vivo and in vitro nitrate reductase activity in three intertidal seaweeds. (In preparation)
Thomas, T. E. and D. H. Turpin: Desiccation enhanced nutrient uptake rates in the intertidal alga Fucus distichus. Botanica mar. 23, 479–481 (1980)
Thomas, T. E., D. H. Turpin and P. J. Harrison: Desiccation enhanced nitrogen uptake rates in intertidal seaweeds. Mar. Biol. (In press).
Topinka J. A.: Nitrogen uptake by Fucus spiralis (Phaeophyceae). J. Phycol. 14, 241–247 (1978)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by R.S. Carney, Baton Rouge
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Thomas, T.E., Harrison, P.J. & Turpin, D.H. Adaptations of Gracilaria pacifica (Rhodophyta) to nitrogen procurement at different intertidal locations. Mar. Biol. 93, 569–580 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00392795
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00392795