Using growth and fluorescence indicators to assess the toxic effect of copper ions on marine microalgae

by

O.S. Alatartseva, L.V. Stelmakh, R.R. Sagadatova

The A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of Southern Seas of RAS, RF, Sevastopol, Nachimov Av., 2

E-mail: lustelm@mail.ru

DOI: 10.33075/2220-5861-2022-4-78-86

UDC  582.26/.27.086.8                                                                                               

Abstract:

   Among the numerous pollutants of sea waters, heavy metals occupy an important place. In terms of their toxic effects on living organisms, they are second only to organochlorine compounds and far ahead of oil products and phenols. Of the metals, the highest concentrations in the Black Sea water column are characteristic of copper.

   The purpose of this work was to study the toxic effect of copper ions on the biomass growth and variability of some fluorescent parameters in enrichment cultures of the diatoms Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Cerataulina pelagica, as well as the dinoflagellate algae Prorocentrum nanum. To assess the inhibitory effect of copper on microalgae, we studied the increase in their biomass and the variability of the maximum efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm), as well as the relative electron transport rate (rETR). It is shown that the minimum initial content of the toxicant in water, which slows down the growth of enrichment cultures with low initial values ​​of biomass, was 1 μg L-1 for P. tricornutum, and 50 μg L-1 for P. nanum. The high initial biomass in the culture of C. pelagica led to a decrease in its sensitivity to copper. The inhibitory effect of this toxicant on cultures also manifests itself in a decrease in the values ​​of the relative electron transport rate (rETR) in algae, as well as in the maximum efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm). The most sensitive parameter to the impact of copper is rETR. The last two parameters make it possible to assess in express mode the effect of toxic substances of organic and inorganic nature on microalgae in cultures and in the sea.

Keywords: diatoms and dinoflagellate microalgae, ionic form of copper, toxic effect, Black Sea.

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