Effect of light on apical length growth of Fucus distichus spp. edentatus (Phaeophyta)

The length growth of Fucus distichus L. ssp. edentatus (Pyl.) Powell in continuous light is compared to growth in natural daylight. In continuous light the length growth of vegetative and fertile apices were saturated at 25 to 40 Wm^-2 and 15 to 30 Wm^-2, respectively. In natural daylight vegetative apices reached saturation at about 300 Wm^-2 (in May), while fertile apices were not saturated at 180 Wm^-2 (in March). This shows that saturation levels are dependent on the light regime and that they may be greatly underestimated when continuous light is used. At 20 Wm^-2 vegetative and fertile apices were daylength saturated at 8 and 12 to 16 h, respectively. Maximum growth in vegetative apices occurred in July, but growth rates were high also during wintertime (45% of July maximum in March at 4.0°–4.2°C). This corresponds to the experimental results which indicate that F. d. edentatus grows well at low irradiances and during short photoperiods.