Kelps, brown algae of the order Laminariales, create underwater forests that are one of the most productive marine ecosystems. However, they are currently threatened by global warming with large-scale declines in their abundance. Phenotypic plasticity is a mechanism that allows organisms respond rapidly to environmental variability. Heat hardening or priming is a technique used to improve the performance of organisms. We aimed to investigate if the temperatures experienced during gametogenesis and sporophyte formation influence the growth and thermal tolerance of sporophytes in Macrocystis pyrifera and investigate if priming treatments can improve Laminaria ochroleuca sporophyte performance under temperature treatments. Therefore, for M. pyrifera, gametogenesis was induced under different reproductive temperatures and reproductive success was evaluated. Physiological performance of sporophytes was assessed at different temperatures. L. ochroleuca juvenile sporophytes from two different populations were exposed to priming treatments and their performance at different temperature was assessed. Our results show an influence of the developmental temperature on M. pyrifera sporophyte physiological response to different temperatures. Priming treatments had no effect on L. ochroleuca sporophytes, but intraspecific variability was found. Further phenotypic plasticity and priming studies are needed to understand how these techniques can be used to help kelp species cope with global warming.
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