Hostname: page-component-6d856f89d9-4thr5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T03:19:48.374Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Depth distribution of endolithic algae from the Firth of Clyde: implications for delineation and subdivision of the photic zone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Etie Ben Akpan
Etie Ben Akpan
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Introduction

Some marine endolithic algae grow well and are restricted to the strongly lit littoral and uppermost sublittoral environments. The wide depth ranging boring algae must however adapt to different light intensities. Whereas Eugomontia sacculata Kornmann is considered as a form adapted to high light intensity (Akpan, 1981), Ostreobium quekettii Bornet & Flahault and Conchocelis - a boring phase in the life cycle of red algae in the Porphyra and Bangia genera - are able to survive under low light conditions even though they thrive at depths with strong illuminations (Rooney & Perkins, 1972; Clokie & Boney, 1980). Sheath, Hellebust & Sawa (1977) have demonstrated that the Conchocelis of a Porphyra sp. can survive prolonged very dim light condition and probably remain in a ‘steady state’ without growth in the dark for a long time. This adaptation is important for those algae in the lower part of the photic zone because during winter, deep light penetration is hampered.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , May 1986 , pp. 269 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Akpan, E. B., 1981. Ecological and Palaeoecological Studies of Endolith Boring Molluscan Grazing and Echinoid Feeding Traces. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Akpan, E. B. & Farrow, G. E., 1984 a. Depth of deposition of Early Holocene raised sediments at Irvine deduced from algal borings in mollusc shells. Scottish Journal of Geology, 20, 237–247.Google Scholar
Akpan, E. B. & Farrow, G. E., 1984 b. Shell boring algae on the Scottish continental shelf: identification, distribution, bathymetric zonation. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Earth Sciences), 75, 1–12.Google Scholar
Alexandersson, E. T., 1972. Micritization of carbonate particles: process of precipitation and dissolution in modern shallow-water sediments. Bulletin of the Geological Institution of the University of Upsala, 3, 201–236.Google Scholar
Budd, D. A. & Perkins, R. D., 1980. Bathymetric zonation and palaeocological significance of microborings in Puerto Rican shelf and slope sediments. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 50, 881–904.Google Scholar
Campbell, S. E., 1980. Palaeoconchocelis starmachii, a carbonate boring micro-fossil from the upper Silurian of Poland (435 million years old): implication for the evolution of Bangiaceae (Rhodophyta). Phycologia, 19, 25–36.Google Scholar
Clokie, J. P. & Boney, A. D., 1980. Conchocelis distribution in the Firth of Clyde: estimates of the lower limits of the photic zone. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 46, 111–125.Google Scholar
Golubic, S., Perkins, R. D. & Lukus, K. J., 1975. Boring micro-organisms and microborings in carbonate substrates. In The Study of Trace Fossils (ed. Frey, R. W.), pp. 229–259. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Jenkin, P. M., 1937. Oxygen production by the diatom Cosinoidiscus excentricus Ehr. in relation to submarine illumination in the English channel. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 22, 310–343.Google Scholar
Marshall, S. M. & Orr, A. P., 1928. The photosynthesis of diatom cultures in the sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 15, 321–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rooney, W. S. & Perkins, R. D., 1972. Distribution and geologic significance of microboring organisms within sediments of Arlington Reef Complex, Australia. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 83, 1139–1150.Google Scholar
Sheath, R. D., Hellebust, J. A. & Sawa, T. 1977. Changes in plastic structure, pigmentation and photosynthesis of conchocelis stage of Porphyra leucosticta (Rhodophyta, Bangiophyceae) in response to low light and darkness. Phycologia, 16, 265–275.Google Scholar
Strickland, J. D. H., 1958. Solar radiation penetrating the ocean. A review of requirements, data and methods of measurement, with particular reference to photosynthetic productivity. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 15, 453–493.Google Scholar
Swinchatt, J. P., 1965. Significance of constituent composition, texture and skeletal breakdown of some recent carbonate sediments. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 35, 71–90.Google Scholar