Thermal Performance Curves for the Kelp Lessonia Corrugata

A laboratory experiment measured growth and photosynthesis in juvenile kelp sporophytes across a thermal range of 4–22°C. The dataset likely contains performance metrics under low and high nitrate conditions, identifying an upper thermal limit of ~22–23°C and an optimum of ~16°C. The data was contributed by the Australian Ocean Data Network and last updated in June 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling species distribution shifts based on identified upper thermal limits.
• Assessing the impact of nutrient enrichment on thermal tolerance in marine algae.
• Predicting population viability under future warming scenarios for southeastern Australia.

Strengths

• Defines precise thermal limits for a key species: upper limit ~22–23°C, optimum ~16°C.
• Tests a specific co-occurring driver by comparing performance under low (4.5 µmol/day) and high (90 µmol/day) nitrate conditions.
• Provides a clear temporal context, linking findings to projected sea surface temperature exceedances by 2050.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing on Tasmanian populations.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Laboratory experiment on juvenile kelp sporophytes.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-17 01:59:32.617930; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Eastern and northeastern Tasmania, Australia.