JPR Advance Access originally published online on June 17, 2004
Journal of Plankton Research 2004 26(10):1219-1228; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbh111
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Journal of Plankton Research Vol. 26 No. 10 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved
UV-B treated algae exhibiting different responses as a food source for Daphnia magna
i
1
ik1,2
1 National Institute of Biology, Ve
na Pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia and 2 Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, Ve
na Pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Corresponding Author: mateja.germ{at}nib.si
Received April 13, 2004; accepted in principle May 7, 2004; accepted for publication June 3, 2004; published online June 17, 2004
The response of green algae Scenedesmus quadricauda and Selenastrum capricornutum to different levels of UV-B radiation was studied. Daphnia magna, the next step in the food web, was fed with UV-B treated algae. UV-B radiation induced the synthesis of UV absorbing substances and photosynthetic pigments, enhanced the level of respiratory potential and suppressed growth of the treated algae. Biomass production in S. quadricauda was higher than in S. capricornutum, but the production of photosynthetic pigments and relative amounts of UV absorbing substances as well as respiratory potential were more pronounced in S. capricornutum. A short-term feeding experiment with D. magna showed that in general, females ingested higher numbers of cells of algae treated with a high UV-B dose, but the biomass of ingested algae did not differ significantly. The exception was S. capricornutum treated with a high UV-B dose; a lower biomass was ingested, probably reflecting the smaller UV-treated cells.