Comparison of the Effects of Aromatic Hydrocarbons on a Laboratory Alga and Natural Phytoplankton

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Abstract
Effects of naphthalene and phenanthrene on natural phytoplankton 14C-assimilation were examined and compared to effects of the same aromatics on the laboratory alga Phaeodactylum tricormutum. Most of the concentrations of aromatics used depressed the photosynthesis of the algae. Marine phytoplankton was more sensitive than freshwater phytoplankton, and P. tricornutum was intermediate. Freshwater phytoplankton collected in the spring and dominated by centric diatoms was more sensitive to naphthalene than phytoplankton collected in the autumn and dominated by green algae. The species composition was probably responsible for this change of sensibility. The effects of naphthalene and phenanthrene on the light-saturated O2 evolution of P. tricornutum was less than the effects on the light-saturated 14C-assimilation of the same alga.