Growth Rate of Alaria Marginata and its Relationship with Temperature and Salinity

Abstract

Kelp can be widely found along the west coast of the US and plays an important role as the primary producer in many marine food webs. Recent publications indicate the climate change that affects the ocean conditions can also influence the kelp growth. To better understand the influence of climate change, we investigated how two abiotic factors, temperature and salinity can affect the growth rate of one specific kelp, Alaria marginata. We hypothesized that higher temperature and higher salinity would both lead to a higher growth rate of A. marginata. To conduct our experiment, we used four outdoor tanks and set up the conditions with different temperature and salinity. Observations and measurements were performed every morning over a continuous five-day period. These results are consistent with our expectation of higher growth rate at higher temperature. We found no effect of salinity on growth rate.