Increases in ultraviolet radiation (UVR), a negative global change factor, affect aquatic primary producers. This effect is expected to be modulated by other global change factors, and to be different for populations adapted to different environments. A common garden experimental approach using freshwater green macroalgae, the cosmopolitan charophyte species Chara hispida and C. vulgaris, allowed us to test whether the beneficial increases in water temperature (T) and nitrate concentration (N) mitigate negative UVR effects. Also, whether these interactions would be not only species-specific but also according to the origin of the population; therefore, two populations of each species were used: one from a coastal wetland and the other from a mountain lake. Two factorial-design experiments were performed: (i) the presence and absence of UVR × lower and higher T × four populations, and (ii) the presence and absence of UVR × lower and higher N × four populations. Response variables were: growth, morphometry, UVR-protective compounds, photosynthetic pigments, and stoichiometric composition. There were consistent response patterns in the key variables that represent different organization levels. Our main results showed that both warming and, to a lesser extent, the increase in nutrients ameliorated the negative effects of UVR on the molecular processes involved in acclimation to UVR, and that such a mitigating effect depended on the different phenotypic plasticity of each species and each ecotype. The coastal populations, being from a more variable environment, were more resilient than the mountain populations, mainly because of changes in growth and morphology.
Keywords: Charophyceae; Mediterranean region; common garden; global change; local adaptation; photoprotection; plasticity.
© 2019 Phycological Society of America.