Light and photosynthesis in intertidal benthic diatoms

Taylor, W. Rowland

doi:10.1007/bf01626096

Cited by 74 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Earlier techniques, in which sediment or mat layers of varying thickness were placed on a large detector surface (e.g. Taylor 1964;Jorgensen et al 1979;Haardt and Nielsen 1980), did not reveal the effects of scattered light. Those studies have been based on a traditional Lambert-Beer approach describing the diffuse attenuation of downward irradiance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…ments have previously been done on a millimeter scale, either by covering a large light sensor with thin layers of sediment (e.g. Hoffmann 1949;Perkins 1963;Taylor 1964;Taylor and Gebelein 1966;Jorgensen et al 1979;Haardt and Nielsen 1980) or by inserting a small light probe into the intact sediment (Fenchel and Straarup 1971). A higher resolution of 50-l 00 pm was recently achieved by the development of a fiber-optic microprobe that had a light-sensing tip of only 25 pm (Jorgensen and Des Marais 1986).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optical properties of benthic photosynthetic communities: Fiber‐optic studies of cyanobacterial mats

Jørgensen

Marais

1988

Limnology & Oceanography

121

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A fiber-optic microprobe was used to analyze the spectral light gradients in benthic cyanobacterial mats with 50-pm depth resolution and 10-nm spectral resolution. Microcoleus chthonoplastes mats were collected from hypersaline, coastal ponds at Guerrero Negro, Baja California. Gradients of spectral radiance, L, were measured at different angles through the mats and the spherically integrated scalar irradiance, E,, was calculated. Maximal spectral light attenuation was found at the absorption peaks for the dominant photosynthetic pigments: chlorophyll a at 430 and 670 nm, carotenoids at 450-500 nm, phycocyanin at 620 nm, and bacteriochlorophyll a at 800-900 nm. Scattered light had a marked spectral effect on the scalar irradiance which near the mat surface reached up to 190% of the incident irradiance. The spherically integrated irradiance thus differed strongly from the incident irradiance both in total intensity and in spectral composition. These basic optical propertics are important for the understanding of photosynthesis and light harvesting in benthic and epiphytic communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical properties of benthic photosynthetic communities: Fiber‐optic studies of cyanobacterial mats

Jørgensen

Marais

1988

Limnology & Oceanography

121

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“…Previous studies of the relation between photosynthesis and light have given contradictory results with some indicating light-saturation at ambient levels, and others finding a linear relationship between primary production and light (Hargrave et al 1983 and references therein). As Shaffer & Onuf (1985) pointed out, the discrepancy may be p a~a l l y due to some investigators (those observing light saturation) having measured actual saturation, while other investigators measured ecological saturation; the ecological saturation level is the light intensity necessary to saturate the entire integrated population of photosynthesizing microalgae in the sediment column, extending to a depth that may reach several millimeters (Taylor 1964, Gomoiu 1967, Fenchel & Straarup 1971. While microalgae at the sediment surface may well exhibit photosynthetic saturation, those below the immediate surface will be subject to reduced light intensity and the result may be that community production, taken as whole, is not light-saturated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual bacterial production in relation to benthic microalgal production and sediment oxygen uptake in an intertidal sandflat and an intertidal mudflat

Cammen¹

1991

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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In order to investigate the controls of bacterial abundance and production in marine sedinlents, bacterial production determined by uptake of 3~-t h y m i l n e , microalgal production and sediment oxygen uptake was investigated monthly for 1 yr in 2 benthic systems, an intertidal mudflat and an intertidal sandflat. There was a closer coupllng between these rates in the sandflat than m the mudflat that may have been due to the more d y n a m~c nature of the sandflat. The parameters measured in h s study fell into 2 groups based on the similarity between their annual totals or mean abundances for the mudflat and for the sandflat. Although microalgal biomass, gross production, and sediment oxygen uptake were similar for both areas, bactenal biomass, bacterial productlon, and sedlment organic carbon were all 4 to 5 times higher in the mudflat than in the sandflat. Estimated annual turnovers of the bacterial population were 52 for the sandflat and 59 for the mudflat. Temperature was the factor that had the greatest influence on bactenal productlon, explairung 55 to 57 % of seasonal variation in specific growth rate. Bactena appeared to respond to the increase In temperature in late winter-early spring more quickly than the rest of the sediment community; this would imply that the input of organic matter to the benthos from an early spring bloom, occurring in colder waters, might result in a less efficient transfer of energy to the macrofauna than would occur with a later bloom.

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“…The highly ephemeral nature of floating sediment films is equally a function of the spatial concentrations of epontic diatoms which are ultimately responsible for the cementing of sandgrains leading thus to the formation of floating rafts. Diatoms that migrate interstitially (Harper 1969, Joint et al 1982) are known to congregate at the sediment surface during low tide where they maximize their photosynthetic potential (Taylor 1964, and see ~nter alia, Palmer & Round 1967). Mucopolysaccharides excreted as products of cell respiration are used by diatoms not only as adhesives for attachment to particles, but also as antjdesiccants during exposure.…”

Section: Distance Travelled By Rafts Fate Of Rafted Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sediment rafting: a novel mechanism for the small-scale dispersal of intertidal estuarine meiofauna

Hicks¹

1988

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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ABSTRACT. Epontic diatoms from intertidal sandy sediments produce considerable quantities of extracellular mucopolysaccharides that are used for locomotion, adhesion to sediment particles and as antidesiccants. These mucoid exopolymers dry out during low tide and cement sandgrains together thus stabilizing the surficial deposit. Under benign microclimatic conditions in Pauatahanui Inlet, New Zealand, these mucoid films with bound surface sediments peel off the substratum and float onto the surface of incoming tidal waters. Large numbers of meiofaunal organisms are carried aboard these films which can subsequently be rafted considerable distances (10's of metres) at the whim of tidal currents and winds. Locally abundant epibenthic copepods are most prone to be passively conveyed in this way, and numbers on rafts are dependent on both microspatial and temporal factors that control population density at the site. Tiny naupliar stages of the harpacticoid Parastenhelia megarostrum dominate the rafted population, due to their intimate clinging association with surflcial particles. Survivorship is high in individuals that have undergone raftlng; rafts thus function as effective agents of dispersal for intertidal epibenthic meiofauna. Along with active migration by cra~vling and passive water column transport, this is the third significant pathway of small-scale within-locality dispersal for meiofauna to be revealed and investigated. It must be considered as a contributing mechanism of recruitment for meiofaunal organisms known to rapidly recolonlze disturbed or denuded habitat.

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Light and photosynthesis in intertidal benthic diatoms

Cited by 74 publications

References 11 publications

Optical properties of benthic photosynthetic communities: Fiber‐optic studies of cyanobacterial mats

Optical properties of benthic photosynthetic communities: Fiber‐optic studies of cyanobacterial mats

Annual bacterial production in relation to benthic microalgal production and sediment oxygen uptake in an intertidal sandflat and an intertidal mudflat

Sediment rafting: a novel mechanism for the small-scale dispersal of intertidal estuarine meiofauna

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