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JOURNAL OF PLANKTON RESEARCH | VOLUME 17 | NUMBER 11 | PAGES 2079-2091 | 1995
© Oxford University Press

research-article

Interspecific variability and environmental influence on particulate organic carbon {delta}13C in cultured marine phytoplankton

C. Leboulanger1, C. Descolas-Gros1,4, M.R. Fontugne3, I. Bentaleb3 and H. Jupin1

1Laboratoire de Biologie Végétale, Université de Perpignan F-66860 Perpignan, France 2Laboratoire d'Hydrobiologie, URA CNRS 1355, Université de Montpellier II F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France 3Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire mine CEA-CNRS BP 1, F-91198 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France

4To whom correspondence should be addressed

Received on January 5, 1994; accepted on July 17, 1995 The stable carbon isotope composition of particulate organic matter expressed as {delta}13C was measured in cultures of 13 species of marine microalgae in different phylogenetic groups. The effects of salinity variations and changes in photoperiod were also assayed for three of them (i.e. Skeletonema costatum, Amphidinium opercularum and Isochrysis galbana); the effect of nature of nitrogen supply (nitrate. ammonium) was studied for one (S.costatum). These environmental parameters were chosen because of their variability in the ocean and their possible effects on {delta}13C values of phytoplankton organic carbon. Batch culture conditions and sampling time after inoculum were strongly controlled in order to provide cells in good physiological state which were comparable from one culture to the other. In the same way, sampling was limited to the first 2 days of exponential growth, in order to avoid a possible dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) limitation. Carboxylase activities [of the enzyme ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (Rubisco), and the three ß carboxylases: phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and pyruvate carboxylase (PC)] and total chlorophyll a concentrations were assayed simultaneously. The {delta}13C values observed were between –30.2{per thousand} and –12.7{per thousand} i.e. comparable to those observed in the world's oceans. The isotopic composition of phytoplankton organic carbon was shown to be under the influence of the parameters tested but {delta}13C variations are specific to the species considered. The nature of ß carboxylase found in each species, or systematic position, could not be linked to the isotopic composition of organic carbon. No linear or single correlation between {delta}13C variations and environmental modifications were observed and there is no evidence for a simple and universal relation between {delta}13C of phytoplankters and their environment. In monospecific cultures as in the field, {delta}13C fractionation by Rubisco (and eventually by PEPCK) may be counterbalanced by other mechanisms.


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