Warming exacerbates the impacts of ultraviolet radiation in temperate diatoms but alleviates the effect on polar species

Under global change scenarios, the sea surface temperature is increasing steadily along with other changes to oceanic environments. Consequently, marine diatoms are influenced by multiple ocean global change drivers. We hypothesized that temperature rise mediates the responses of polar and temperate diatoms to UV radiation (UVR) to different extents, and exposed the temperate centric diatoms, Thalassiosira weissflogii and Skeletonema costatum, and a polar pennate diatom Entomoneis sp., to warming (+5°C) for 10 days, then performed short-term incubations under different radiation treatments with or without UVR. The effective quantum yields of the three diatoms were stable during exposure to PAR, but decreased when exposed to PAR + UVR, leading to significant UV-induced inhibition, which was 3% and 9%, respectively, for T. weissflogii and S. costatum under ambient temperature but increased to 12% and 17%, respectively, in the cells acclimated to the warming treatment. In contrast, UVR induced much higher inhibition, by about 45%, in the polar diatom Entomoneis sp. at ambient temperature, and the warming treatment alleviated the UV-induced inhibition, which dropped to 36%. The growth rates were significantly inhibited by UVR in S. costatum under the warming treatment and in Entomoneis sp. under ambient temperature, while there was no significant effect for T. weissflogii. Our results indicate that the polar diatom was more sensitive to UVR though warming could alleviate its impact, whereas the temperate diatoms were less sensitive to UVR but warming exacerbated its impacts, implying that diatoms living in different regions may exhibit differential responses to global changes.

Short-term responses of temperate and subarctic marine diatoms to Irgarol 1051 and UV radiation: Insights into temperature interactions

Phytoplankton face numerous pressures resulting from chemical and physical stressors, primarily induced by human activities. This study focuses on investigating the interactive effects of widely used antifouling agent Irgarol 1051 and UV radiation on the photo-physiology of marine diatoms from diverse latitudes, within the context of global warming. Our findings clearly shown that both Irgarol and UV radiation have a significant inhibitory impact on the photochemical performance of the three diatoms examined, with Irgarol treatment exhibiting more pronounced effects. In the case of the two temperate zone diatoms, we observed a decrease in the inhibition induced by Irgarol 1051 and UVR as the temperature increased up to 25°C. Similarly, for the subarctic species, an increase in temperature resulted in a reduction in the inhibition caused by Irgarol and UVR. These results suggest that elevated temperatures can mitigate the short-term inhibitory effects of both Irgarol and UVR on diatoms. Furthermore, our data indicate that increased temperature could significantly interact with UVR or Irgarol for temperate diatoms, while this was not the case for cold water diatoms, indicating temperate and subarctic diatoms may respond differentially under global warming.