Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2011, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (3): 82-87.doi: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2011.03.082cstr: 32234.14.j.issn.1009-5470.2011.03.082

• Marine biology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of growth of Skeletonema costatum and Phaeodactylum tricornutum on me-
dium pH in different initial inorganic nitrogen concentrations

GOU Bin1,2, GAO Yong-li1, YIN Ke-dong1,3, CAI Wei-jun4
    

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Oceanography in the Tropics (South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS), Guangzhou 510301, China;
    2. Graduate University of CAS, Beijing 100049, China; 3. School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275,
    China; 4. Department of Marine Sciences, the University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
  • Received:2010-03-11 Revised:2010-05-07 Online:2011-07-18 Published:2011-07-20

Abstract:

 Ocean acidification is a threatening environmental problem. A change of ocean pH is affected by the amount of
inorganic carbon that is absorbed by algae. Skeletonema costatum and Phaeodactylum tricornutum were grown in batch culture
to study the effects of different inorganic nitrogen concentrations on the change in pH. The results showed that the concentra-
tion of chlorophyll a and final pH of the two algae’s media increased with the medium N concentration from 10 to
200µmol·L−1. A significant linear relationship was observed between the change of pH and the consumption of inorganic N and
a linear significant relationship was also found between the change of pH and the consumption of inorganic carbon.

Key words:  pH, consumption of inorganic N, Skeletonema costatum, Phaeodactylum tricornutum