Reduction in growth rate in Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Bacillariophyceae) and Dunaliella tertiolecta (Chlorophyceae) induced by UV-B radiation

The effect of UV-B radiation (UVBR, 280–315 nm) on growth rate during 72 h of incubation, was measured for two marine microalgae – Dunaliella tertiolecta (Chlorophyceae) and Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Bacillariophyceae). The resulting inhibition of growth rate was analysed by calculating biological weighting functions (BWFs). The growth rate of D. tertiolecta was slightly more inhibited by UVBR (over the whole range of the spectrum) than was the growth rate of P. tricornutum, but the wavelength dependencies were the same.Our results were compared with results from photosynthesis experiments of Andreasson and Wängberg [1], where two methods, pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) fluorescence and carbon fixation, were measured for these same algae. The BWF for the growth rate, here, showed more wavelength dependency than the BWF for the previous two photosynthesis measurements – except for the carbon fixation BWF in P. tricornutum, which was closer to the BWF for growth rate. The wavelength dependency of the growth rate inhibition showed less variation between the species than the inhibition of the photosynthesis.