Photosynthetic response of marine phytoplankton to eserine salicylate,a zooplankton anaesthetizing substance

Addition of eserine salicylate, a synaptic metabolic inhibitor, to marine algal cultures of Sketetonema costatum (Greville) Cleve, Dunaliella tertiolecta Butcher, and Prorocentrum micans Ehrenberg had a varied effect on the rate of respiration; α (the initial slope of the light saturation curve) and P^B_m (the saturation curve) and P (the specific production rate at optimal light intensity). As these effects were either concentration dependent, species specific or both, we find that it is not possible to manipulate photosynthesis-light relationships in a predictable manner by eserine salicylate treatment.