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Respiration and Phosphorus Excretion in Some Marine Populations
Author(s) -
Satomi Masako,
Pomeroy Lawrence R.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1934025
Subject(s) - excretion , respiration , phosphorus , plankton , phosphate , population , zooplankton , biology , respiration rate , zoology , environmental chemistry , ecology , chemistry , botany , biochemistry , demography , organic chemistry , sociology
The rate of oxygen consumption and the rate of excretion of phosphate and of total phosphorus were simultaneously measured in No. 2—net plankton, oysters, and sea anemones. There was a high positive correlation between respiration and phosphate excretion, with a characteristic O:P ratio for all plankton populations but different ratios for the other organisms. Zooplankton excrete a high proportion of organic phosphorus and have a low O:P ratio, which suggests that they do not oxidize food completely. From observations such as these it is possible to estimate phosphorus flux through a population from respiration data, or the reverse.