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COMPARISON OF HALF‐SATURATION CONSTANTS FOR GROWTH AND NITRATE UPTAKE OF MARINE PHYTOPLANKTON 2
Author(s) -
Eppley Richard W.,
Thomas William H.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
journal of phycology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.85
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1529-8817
pISSN - 0022-3646
DOI - 10.1111/j.1529-8817.1969.tb02628.x
Subject(s) - nitrate , diatom , biology , phytoplankton , saturation (graph theory) , growth rate , botany , algae , environmental chemistry , zoology , ecology , nutrient , chemistry , geometry , mathematics , combinatorics
SUMMARY Growth rates and rates of nitrate uptake by N‐depleted cells were measured for an oceanic diatom , Chaetoceros gracilis, and a neritic diatom, Asterionella japonica, as functions of nitrate concentration of the medium. Both growth and N‐uptake rates appeared to be hyperbolic with nitrate concentration and could be fit to an equation of Michaelis‐Menten form:where v is rate , V m . is the maximum rate, S is nitrate concentration, and K s is the half‐saturation constant . K s values for uptake and growth were similar if not identical for each species. Uptake experiments can provide a presumptive measure of K s for growth, thought to be an ecologically significant characteristic of a species .