| Abstract: | Water samples were collected over P. ponchetii bloom period beginning in November 1988, in 15m water column, from 10km offshore of Davis Station, Vestfold Hill, Antarctica. The concentrations of acrylic acid and dimethyl sulphide (DMS), which are toxic compounds in the water samples, were determined by HPLC and GC. The result shows that the concentration of acrylic acid varies in 0. 001 - 0. 510μmol ?L-1 and the concentration of DMS in 0. 003-0. 588 μmol ?L-1 during P. pouchetii bloom. Both the increased since late December 1988 and reached the highest concentration in early January 1989, then they decreased rapidly and returned to lower level from middle January to February in agreement with variation in cell number of the unicell alga P. pouchetii. The correlation coefficients between acrylic acid and P. pouchetii and between DMS and P. pouchetii are all 0. 998. It is undoubted that P. pouchetii produced acrylic acid and DMS. The highest productivity of acrylic acid and DMS were 9. 76X 10-8 umol cell-1 and 13. 09 ×10-8 μmol ?cell-1, respectively, during P. pouchelii bloom. A cellular product, dimethylsulphonium propionate (DMSP), is decomposed into acrylic acid and DMS, and the formation of DMSP is probably from methionine which could be utilized by P. pouchelii. |
