Tiphane A. Figueira1, Erick Alves Pereira Lopes Filho2 , João P. S. Felizardo3, Lucas Heleno Lopes2 ,João P. G. Machado4, Vinícius Peruzzi de Oliveira4
1 Graduate Program in Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2 Graduate Program in Botany, National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3 Institute of Physics, Fluminense Federal University, Laboratory of Radioecology and Environmental Changes – LARA/UFF, 4 Multiuser Unit of Environmental Analysis, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ulva is a cosmopolitan macroalga, playing an important role as a food source in marine ecosystems. However, the effects of future climate change scenarios in this genus is unclear. Ocean warm-up and pCO2 increase could lead to unpredictable consequences regarding seaweed ecophysiology, ecological services, and consequently marine food chains. In the present study, we will assess morphological, physiological, and biochemical responses from Ulva sp. cultured in 4 different controlled conditions analogous to the expect variations in pH and salinity in tropical waters: control (pH 8.1 and 24°C), acidified (pH 7.7 and 24°C), warmed (pH 8.1 and 43.7°C) and acidified and warmed (pH 7.7 and 43.7°C) during 2weeks. During these weeks we will access algae productivity, photosynthetic apparatus, the content of fatty acids and other metabolites, C/N ratios, mineral content and, polysaccharide yield.We expect to find significant variations in the content and diversity of the metabolites, as well as to evaluate the impact of heating and acidification on the nutritional quality of Ulva sp.