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FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR ANOMALOUS SIZE SCALING OF RESPIRATION IN PHYTOPLANKTON 1
Author(s) -
Lewis William M.
Publication year - 1989
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.1529-8817.1989.tb00136.x
Subject(s) - biology , phytoplankton , respiration , respiration rate , algae , heterotroph , ecology , scaling , range (aeronautics) , botany , nutrient , bacteria , geometry , mathematics , materials science , composite material , genetics
Respiration per unit mass decreases as organism size increases among metazoans and heterotrophic unicells. The rate of decrease is described by a power function of organism mass; the exponent of the power function is 0.75 (Three‐fourths Rule). Previously unanalyzed respiration rates for 11 species of phytoplankton ranging in size over four orders of magnitude show a size‐scaling exponent of 1.13 (SE, ±0.15), which is statistically different from 0.75. This result confirms the result of an earlier study of eight phytoplankton species indicating that size scaling of respiration is absent or minimal in phytoplankton, in contrast to the pattern of heterotrophic unicells. The size‐related range of respiration rates per unit mass across the full size spectrum of phytoplankton would be approximately 18–fold if respiration were scaled according to the Three‐fourths Rule. If respiration does not scale with size or scales minimally with size, as suggested by present evidence, the size‐related range of rates will be much smaller or negligible. The apparent anomaly of size scaling for phytoplankton respiration is potentially of great ecological and adaptive significance in unicellular algae.