Phytoplankton growth rate

The results of two successful iron-fertilization experiments in the eastern equatorial Pacific have clearly shown that phytoplankton growth rate is limited by iron at that location (Martin et al., 1994 Coale et al., 1996). The species composition and size distributions of the ecosystem are influenced by iron availability (Landry et al., 1997). In particular, large diatoms do not grow at optimum rates in the absence of sufficient iron. Loukos et al. (1997) used a simple... 

Riebesell, U., Wolf-Gladrow, D. A. and Smetacek, V. (1993). Carbon dioxide limitation of marine phytoplankton growth rates, Nature, 361, 249-251. 

Pigment distribution is useful for quantitative assessment of phytoplankton community composition, phytoplankton growth rate and... 

Seasonal cycle of SST is similar in all Black Sea regions (Fig. 3b). Phytoplankton growth rate depends on the rate of photosynthesis, which theoretically depends on PAR. However, maximum PAR in June-July does not result in CHL increase (Fig. 3c). 

The results of our two experiments are consistent with these seasonal changes in the availability of light and iron, given the interrelated influences of irradiance and iron availability on phytoplankton growth rate. The data from our laboratory dose-response iron-addition experiment indicate a relatively high iron requirement for colonial Phaeocystis at an irradiance of 20 fiE m 2 s-1, a value that is representative of the mean irradiance in the mixed layer of the southern Ross Sea during early spring (Smith et al. 2000 Smith and van Hilst 2003 Hiscock 2004). At that time, dissolved Fe concentrations are likely to exceed our estimated half-saturation... 

Specific phytoplankton growth rate (jx) is also shown. All rates are quantified by the dilution technique (Landry and Hassett 1982). Prey concentrations were analyzed by cell counts, total chlorophyll a fractions (Total Chi a), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), or flow cytometry (FC)... 

R. W. Eppley and others, Plankton Rate Determination of phytoplankton growth rates and regulation of... 

Ki0rboe, T. (1989). Phytoplankton growth rate and nitrogen content Implications for feeding and fecundity in a herbivorous copepod. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 55, 229—234. 

Some formulations of jointly NO3/NH4 limited growth have not relied on inhibition. For example, Jamart et al. (1977) defined preference functions that divided the N sink between NH4 and NO3, while the two jointly regulate the phytoplankton growth rate by a single Monod function of their aggregate concentration. Similarly, Frost (1993) defined a Monod function for NH4 uptake, but assumed that N is not limiting to phytoplankton growth, and that any additional N requirements would be met by NO3. 

Smith, W., Nelson, D., and Mathot, S. (1999). Phytoplankton growth rates in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, determined by independent methods Temporal variations. J. Plankton Res. 21, 1519-1536. 

Goldman J. C. (1986) On phytoplankton growth rates and particulate C N P ratios at low light. Limnol. Oceanogr. 31, 1358-1361. 

In addition to an average over depth, it is also expedient to average the phytoplankton growth rate over a time interval. Since the time scale within which this analysis is addressed is the week-to-week change in the population over a year, a daily average is appropriate. For simplicity, it is assumed that the incident solar radiation as a function of time over a day is given by the function... 

Figure 6. Comparison of phytoplankton growth rates as a function of incident solar radiation intensity and temperature...

A complete investigation of the environmental influences on the growth rate is still to be made. In particular, it has been emphasized that there is an interaction between nitrogen and phosphorus limitations as well as other effects which influence the phytoplankton growth rate. Also, these effects are different for differing species. The species-dependent effects are important in the problem of the seasonal succession of phytoplankton species. 

Tett, P., Heaney, S.I. and Droop, M.R. (1985) The Redfield ratio and phytoplankton growth rate. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 65, 487-504. 

Neufeld et al. (2002a) have shown that this behavior can be explained by the interplay between excitable plankton population dynamics and chaotic flow, similarly to the excitable behavior described in the previous section. In a chaotic flow a steady bloom filament profile can be generated, that does not decay until it invades the whole computational domain as an advectively propagating bloom. The condition for the existence of the steady bloom filament solution in the corresponding one-dimensional filament model is that the rate of convergence, quantified by the Lyapunov exponent, should be slower than the phytoplankton growth rate, but faster than the zooplankton reproduction rate. In this case the phytoplankton does not became diluted by the flow and the zooplankton is thus kept at low concentration unable to graze down the bloom filament. 

Chang, J. and Carpenter, E.J., Species-specific phytoplankton growth rates via diel DNA synthesis cycles. 

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