Geographic variation in biochemical and physiological traits of the red seaweeds Chondracanthus chamissoi and Gelidium lingulatum from the south east Pacific coast

• Published in: Journal of applied phycology Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 665 - 682
• Main Authors: Véliz, Karina, Chandía, Nancy, Karsten, Ulf, Lara, Carlos, Thiel, Martin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-02-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acclimation; Acclimatization; Algae; Amino acids; Antioxidants; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Capacity; Carrageenan; Chlorophyll; Chlorophyll a; Chondracanthus chamissoi; Coastal environments; Correlation; Cultivation; Dry weight; Ecology; Environmental gradient; Environmental stress; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Gametophytes; Gelidium lingulatum; Latitudinal variations; Life cycle; Life cycle engineering; Life cycles; Life Sciences; Mycosporine-like amino acids; Natural populations; Phenotypes; Photosynthesis; Physiology; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Polysaccharides; Population studies; Populations; Seaweeds; Shinorine; Tetrasporophytes; Ultraviolet radiation; Variation; I, Pacific; Rhodophyta; Agar; Mycosporine-like amino acids; Chile; Ecotypes; Carrageenans
• ISSN: 0921-8971; 1573-5176
• DOI: 10.1007/s10811-018-1532-0

Diverse phenotypic characteristics have evolved in seaweeds to cope with environmental stress, but these traits can vary among populations of the same species especially if these are distributed along environmental gradients. In this study, natural populations of the carrageenophyte
Chondracanthus chamissoi
and the agarophyte
Gelidium lingulatum
from a latitudinal gradient along the Chilean coast (between 20° S and 41° S) were compared. We determined physiological and biochemical traits in field and culture samples. Sulfated polysaccharide contents ranged from 15.4 to 52.7% dry weight (DW) in
C. chamissoi
and from 10.9 to 25.1% DW in
G. lingulatum
. Carrageenan amounts were higher in gametophytes than tetrasporophytes and were also, depending on life cycle phase, negatively correlated with the geographic variation of temperature, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and chlorophyll
a
(Chl
a
), whereas agar showed no significant correlation with these variables. The UV-absorbing mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) shinorine and palythine in both species ranged from 0.8 to 6.8 mg g
−1
DW and these contents were positively correlated to PAR and Chl
a
levels at the sampling site. In
C. chamissoi
variation among populations in their photosynthetic characteristics, pigment concentrations, antioxidant capacity, and MAA contents were persistent after acclimation under common-garden conditions, suggesting ecotypic differentiation in this species. Contrary,
G. lingulatum
seems to have a more generalist strategy because differences after cultivation were observed only in some photosynthetic parameters and phycobiliprotein concentration. This study confirms that intraspecific differences in phenotypic traits along the same geographic area are strongly dependent on species and life cycle phases.