Ecological consequences of photomovement and photobleaching in the marine flagellate Cryptomonas maculata

Abstract The marine flagellate Cryptomonas maculata is bleached and eventually killed by exposure to even moderate white-light fluence rates. Bleaching affects all of its photosynthetic pigments and the kinetics depend on the fluence rate of the radiation the organisms are exposed to. Nitrogen-deficient cells which show a reduced pigment concentration and impaired photosynthetic efficiency tolerate bleaching white-light exposure far better than the normally colored cells. In their natural environment the organisms escape this situation by a pronounced negative phototaxis at fluence rates above 3.6 klx (= 15 W.m⁻²), while they show positive phototaxis at lower fluence rates. In nitrogen-deficient cells, however, though being less prone to photobleaching, negative phototaxis commences even at a fluence rate of about 830 lx (= 3.5 W.m⁻²). The ecological consequences of the remarkable light sensitivity and the phototactic orientation are being discussed.