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Primary Production and the Global Epidemic of Phytoplankton Blooms in the Sea: A Linkage?

  • Conference paper
Novel Phytoplankton Blooms

Part of the book series: Coastal and Estuarine Studies ((COASTAL,volume 35))

Abstract

There is general consensus that phytoplankton growth in the sea is often nutrient-limited, and that the uptake of nutrients such as N, P and Si follows a stoichiometric proportionality ╌ the Redfield Ratio. Nutrient addition tends to relax, at least temporarily, nutrient-limitation; numerous nutrient enrichment experiments have demonstrated this. Nutrient limitation may produce two different effects: biomass limitation (a community level effect) or physiological limitation (a cellular level effect). In biomass limitation, the response to nutrient enrichment tends to follow a yield-dose relationship, i.e. increased biomass accompanies increased nutrient availability. Biomass limitation appears to be the primary manifestation of nutrient limitation in the sea. Physiological limitation rarely has been established in situ, although species successional changes provide indirect evidence for its occurrence. A species exhibiting reduced physiological vigour and growth rate induced by nutrient limitation may be out-competed and replaced by species better adapted to prevailing nutrient conditions. The successful species will then become progressively biomass-limited by nutrient availability.

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  1. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, 02881, USA

    Theodore J. Smayda

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  1. Theodore J. Smayda
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  1. Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA

    Elizabeth M. Cosper , V. M. Bricelj  & E. J. Carpenter ,  & 

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Smayda, T.J. (1989). Primary Production and the Global Epidemic of Phytoplankton Blooms in the Sea: A Linkage?. In: Cosper, E.M., Bricelj, V.M., Carpenter, E.J. (eds) Novel Phytoplankton Blooms. Coastal and Estuarine Studies, vol 35. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75280-3_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75280-3_26

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