Abstract
In Greenland, free‐living red coralline algae contribute to and dominate marine habitats along the coastline. Lithothamnion glaciale dominates coralline algae beds in many regions of the Arctic, but never in Godthåbsfjord, Greenland, where Clathromorphum sp. is dominant. To investigate environmental impacts on coralline algae distribution, calcification and primary productivity were measured in situ during summers of 2015 and 2016, and annual patterns of productivity in L. glaciale were monitored in lab‐based mesocosm experiments where temperature and salinity were manipulated to mimic high glacial melt. The results of field and cold‐room measurements indicate that both L. glaciale and Clathromorphum sp. had low calcification and photosynthetic rates during the Greenland summer (2015 and 2016), with maximum of 1.225 ± 0.17 or 0.002 ± 0.023 μmol CaCO3 · g−1 · h−1 and ‐0.007 ± 0.003 or ‐0.004 ± 0.001 mg O2 · L−1 · h−1 in each species respectively. Mesocosm experiments indicate L. glaciale is a seasonal responder; photosynthetic and calcification rates increase with annual light cycles. Further, metabolic processes in L. glaciale were negatively influenced by low salinity; positive growth rates only occurred in marine treatments where individuals accumulated an average of 1.85 ± 1.73 mg · d−1 of biomass through summer. These results indicate high freshwater input to the Godthåbsfjord region may drive the low abundance of L. glaciale, and could decrease species distribution as climate change increases fresh water input to the Arctic marine system via enhanced ice sheet runoff and glacier calving.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 690-702 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Phycology |
Volume | 54 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 12 Sept 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2018 |
Bibliographical note
The authors would like to thank the GINR and the Nuuk Fire Department for providing logistical support in Nuuk. We are particularly grateful to thank Martin Blicher, Josephine Nymand, Thomas Juul-Pedersen, Ƚukasz Stachnik, Johanne Vad, Mackenzie Haberman, Alyssa Bell, Heather Baxter, and Jinhua Mao for their research and field assistance. Funding was provided by the Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant 2014-093 “Calving Glaciers: Long Term Validation and Evidence”. Field work was also supported by the Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) “PECRE exchanges with Europe, North America, China, India” and the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS) Small Grants Scheme. Seawater was paid for through the Universityof Glasgow research enabling fund and Federation of European Microbiological Societies research grant. This manuscript benefitted from discussions and review by Juliet Brodie, Sophie McCoy, Laurie Hofmann, Arley Muth, and Bonnie Lewis.
Keywords
- Arctic
- Clathromorphum sp.
- ecophysiology
- Greenland ice sheet
- maerl
- polar seaweeds
- rhodolith
- Lithothamnion glaciale
- salinity
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Brice Rea
- School of Geosciences, Geography & Environment - Personal Chair
- The North
- Cryosphere and Climate Change Research Group
Person: Academic