Photosynthetic performance of two freshwater red algal species

Abstract

Abstract Photosynthetic performances of two freshwater red algal populations from freshwaters of the Carpathian basin were measured in this study. Populations were collected from different habitats: Bangia atropurpurea from Lake Balaton and Batrachospermum gelatinosum from the Tapolca stream. Their photosynthesis was studied in a wide range of temperature (5–35 °C) and light intensity (0–1150 μmol m−2 s−1) in a photosynthetron. We found both species’ photosynthesis maxima at 25 °C but B. atropurpurea had significantly higher photosynthetic production. Low and medium values were calculated for the species’ photoadaptation parameters. Compensation light intensities determined in this study were similar to those obtained in previous studies. Both species utilized light efficiently; photoinhibition was detected only at two measuring temperatures for Bangia and at four measuring temperatures for Batrachospermum. P-T characteristics of the species revealed that both have temperature optima at 25 °C under high and medium light intensities but there are no such remarkable optima at low irradiance. The biomass specific respiration of both species increased with increasing temperature. We confirmed the good light utilization of these red algal species but found temperature optima higher than reported previously.