Abstract
The effect of mercuric acetate was studied in culture experiments with the dinoflagellates Scrippsiella faeroense (Paulsen) Balech et Soares, Prorocentrum micans Ehrenberg and Gymnodinium splendens Lebour. Impairment of growth rates, in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence, maximum cell densities and morphological changes served as criteria for assessing sublethal influences. Tests were made using the batch- and continuous-culture techniques. Addition of Hg at concentrations of 0.001 mg.1-1 and higher resulted in reduction of relative growth rates. In a few cases populations recovered from the initial decline and showed new growth. Cell counts corresponded very closely to in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence measurements. Morphological variations were observed in S. faeroense, which responded (even in sublethal concentrations) by bursting it's thecae, releasing naked motile cells and forming vegetative resting stages. The problems of optimal algal-bioassay methods are discussed also, in the light of results obtained by other authors.
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Hamburg
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Kayser, H. Waste-water assay with continuous algal cultures: The effect of mercuric acetate on the growth of some marine dinoflagellates. Marine Biology 36, 61–72 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00388429
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00388429