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VARIATIONS IN DISTRIBUTION OF 14 C IN CELL EXTRACTS OF PHYTOPLANKTON LIVING UNDER NATURAL CONDITIONS 1
Author(s) -
Olive John H.,
Morrison John H.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1967.12.3.0383
Subject(s) - photic zone , phytoplankton , oscillatoria , fraction (chemistry) , chemistry , polysaccharide , botany , photosynthesis , cyanobacteria , biology , food science , biochemistry , zoology , chromatography , ecology , nutrient , bacteria , genetics
A modification of the 14 C technique was used to study variations in the distribution of 14 C in cell extracts of phytoplankton living under natural conditions. In the upper photic zone (0.5 m), cell volume declined steadily from April to June, but total 14 C uptake increased gradually with increasingly large fractions of 14 C incorporated into an ethanol‐soluble cell extract (probably low molecular weight carbohydrates and organic acids) rather than into an insoluble fraction (probably protein and polysaccharides). In the middle photic zone (3 m), cell volume also declined and total 14 C uptake increased gradually, but increasingly large fractions of 14 C were in the insoluble fraction. Cell volume and total 14 C uptake in the lower photic zone (6 m) increased proportionally. Increasingly large fractions of 14 C were in the insoluble fraction from March to June. Variations in 14 C distribution appear to be related to active cell turnover during a Synedra sp. bloom on one occasion and to chromatic adaptation by the dominant phytoplankter Oscillatoria rubescens at another time.