Plankton biochemical composition

This equation was originally proposed for "average" plankton, a category that included both zooplankton and phytoplankton. This mean elemental ratio of C/N/P = 106/16/1 by atoms is highly conserved (Falkowski et al., 1998) and reflects the average biochemical composition of marine phytoplankton and their early degradation products. 

Denisenko, V.V., Shevchenko, V.A. and Golovenko,V.K. (1971). Biochemical composition of Black Sea plankton (In Russian). Biologiya morya 2,86-106. 

Kostylev, E.F. (1973). Changes in the biochemical composition of plankton with depth (In Russian). Biologiya Morya 1973 (3), 35-47. 

Verity PG, Villareal TA, Smayda TJ (1988) Ecological investigations of blooms of colonial Phaeocystis pouchetti - 1. Abundance, biochemical composition, and metabolic rates. J Plankton Res 10(2) 219-248 Watson SW, Novitsky TJ, Quinby HL, Valois FW (1977) Determination of bacterial number and biomass in the marine environment. Appl Environ Microbiol 33 940-946 Weaver RS, Kirchman DL, Hutchins DA (2003) Utilization of iron/organic ligand complexes by marine bacterioplank-ton. Aquat Microb Ecol 31 227-239 Weinbauer MG, Arrieta JM, Hemdl GJ (2003) Stimulation of viral infection of bacterioplankton during a mesoscale iron fertilization experiment in the Southern ocean. Geo-phys Res abstracts 5 12280... 

Other roles for noxious metabolites produced by certain phytoplankton species include mediation of allelopathic interactions [47]. Allelopathy covers biochemical interactions among different primary producers or between primary producers and microorganisms. These can provide an advantage for the producer in the competition among different photoautotrophs for resources. Although not directly involved in chemical defense, allelopathic metabolites can affect the dominance and succession of species in phytoplankton therefore they are crucial for understanding plankton composition. In contrast to the fresh water environment, the location of many studies on the role of allelopathic interactions, which have identified active compounds [47], only few studies have addressed this topic in the marine environment. 

Figure 14 Fluxes and composition of particulate organic carbon in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, (a) POC fluxes (mgm d ). (b) Corresponding fractions of amino acid, carbohydrate, lipid, and molecularly uncharacterized carbon (biochemical class-carbon as a percentage of total OC) in plankton, sediment traps (105 m, l,000m, >3,500 m) and surface sediment samples. The fraction of molecularly uncharacterized organic carbon (calculated as the difference between total OC and the sum of amino acid - - carbohydrate - - Upid) increases with more extensive degradation to become the major constituent in deeper POC samples (after Wakeham et al., 1997). (c) Calculated weight percentages of amino acid, carbohydrate, and lipid in plankton and in sinking (sediment trap) particles in the upper and lower water column as determined by solid-state C-NMR spectroscopy (source Hedges et al., 2001).

Stable carbon isotope compositions of different biochemical components found in marine plankton (from Degens,... 

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