Growth rates, grazing, sinking, and iron limitation of equatorial Pacific phytoplankton

Journal Article · Sun Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Limnology and Oceanography; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1991.36.8.1816· OSTI ID:7111714

Chavez, F P; Buck, K R ^[1]; Coale, K H; Martin, J H; DiTullio, G R; Welschmeyer, N A ^[2]; Barber, R T ^[3]; Jacobson, A C

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1. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Inst., Pacific Grove, CA (United States)
2. Moss Landing Marine Labs., CA (United States)
3. Duke Univ. Marine Lab., Beaufort, NC (United States)

Concentrations of phytoplankton and NO{sub 3} are consistently low and high in surface waters of the oceanic eastern and central equatorial Pacific, and phytoplankton populations are dominated by small solitary phytoplankton. Growth rates of natural phytoplankton populations, needed to assess the relative importance of many of the processes considered in the equatorial Pacific, were estimated by several methods. The growth rates of natural phytoplankton populations were found to be {approximately}0.7 d{sup {minus}1} or 1 biomass doubling d{sup {minus}1} and were similar for all methods. To keep this system in its observed balance requires that loss rates approximate observed growth rates. Grazing rates, measured with a dilution grazing experiment, were high, accounting for a large fraction of the daily production. Additions of various forms of Fe to 5-7-d incubations utilizing ultraclean techniques resulted in significant shifts in autotrophic and heterotrophic assemblages between initial samples, controls, and Fe enrichments, which were presumably due to Fe, grazing by both protistan and metazoan components, and incubation artifacts. Estimated growth rates of small pennate diatoms showed increases in Fe enrichments with respect to controls. The growth rates of the pennate diatoms were similar to those estimated for the larger size fraction of the natural populations.

• OSTI ID: 7111714
• Journal Information: Limnology and Oceanography; (United States), Journal Name: Limnology and Oceanography; (United States) Vol. 36:8; ISSN LIOCA; ISSN 0024-3590
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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