TIDAL DEPENDENCE OF PHOTOINHIBITION OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS IN MARINE MACROPHYTES OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

During an expedition in spring 1992 to Hainandao, an island in the tropical zone of the South China Sea, the daily courses of photoinhibition of different brown algal species and of the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii were investigated. Experiments were carried out with the new portable chlorophyll fluorometer PAM 2000 (Walz, Germany). As a measure of photoinhibition Fv/Fm was used and as a measure of the photosynthetic yield Delta F/F'. Photoinhibition occurred in all algae floating near the water surface and reached its maximum between noon and the early afternoon. In the evening photosynthesis was always fully recovered. The extent of photoinhibition depended on both the depth of the algae and the course of the irradiance during the day. Algae of the sublittoral zone showed only a low degree of photoinhibition at high fluence rates when they were covered by a water column of more than 1 m, even if the water was clear. The seagrass Thalassia hemprichii grew in the middle and upper intertidal zone and showed a significant photoinhibition at low tide only when it was not water-covered. Apparently, it is able to cope with extreme high light conditions without downregulation of photosynthesis caused by photoinhibition.