Abstract
Relationship between growth of Laminaria religiosa gametophyte and water velocity was examined under uniform flow in the laboratory at five velocities (3.7 to 18.5cm/s) in natural sea water (Experiment I) and enriched seawater (Experiment II). Experiment I was conducted on November, 1999, using natural sea water with nitrate concentration from 2.5 to 4.0μM, from southwestern coast of Hokkaido, Japan. Experiment II was carried out on december, 1999, under enriched sea water (750μM). In natural sea water, cell number of gametophytes increased with water velocity. However, in enriched sea water, growth of gametophytes was not related to velocity. In conclusion, the water velocity of uniform flow affected growth of gametophytes under low nitrate concentration.
