Toxic effects induced by salt stress on selected freshwater prokaryotic and eukaryotic microalgal species

In order to determine the short-term impact induced by salt stress, cultures of Dictyosphaerium chlorelloides and Microcystis aeruginosa were grown in presence of increasing sea-salt concentrations. Growth rate and photosystem II activity in D. chlorelloides, and photosynthetic oxygen production (in both species) were analyzed. A concentration-dependent response was obtained with the presence of sea-salt in culture medium, being M. aeruginosa (EC₅₀₍₇₂₎ = 76.6 mM) more sensitive to salt stress than D. chlorelloides (EC₅₀₍₇₂₎ = 340.7 mM). However, comparative analysis between growth and Φ_PSII inhibition in D. chlorelloides shown that there are not significant differences among EC₅₀₍₇₂₎ values obtained. An immediate toxic response, induced by increase of sea-salt concentration, has been obtained applying the calculated EC₅₀₍₇₂₎ values in both species. These results shown that sea-salt acts as a sensitive and rapid toxic compound in algal cells, and that the sensitivity of M. aeruginosa to salinity stress is much higher than that of D. chlorelloides.