Öz
It has been known that,
climate change causes changes in marine water salinity. Since salinity is one
of the major factors on osmoregulation and ion concentration of algae, marine
algal community will be effected by salinity changes. Gracilaria gracilis samples were collected from Izmir Bay on
December 2014. After 2 days adjustment period in the laboratory conditions, the
algae samples were divided into 4 groups and each group were cultured in
different salinity concentrations (10‰, 25‰, 37‰ control group, 48‰) for 7
days. On Day 0, 2, 5 and 7, small pieces of samples collected from each group
afterwards total protein, phycocyanin, phycoerythrin and chlorophyll a
integrity and catalase activity were analyzed. Phycocyanin, phycoerythrin and
chlorophyll a levels and catalase activity showed variations according to
exposure time and salinity concentrations. Except for the catalase activity,
all the parameters were decreased by the end of the 7th day at different
salinities. The highest catalase activity was observed on the last day of the
experiment in all groups which shows the salinity stress increasement according
to exposure time. Gracilaria gracilis
was not able to adapt both hiposalinity and hypersalinity conditions.