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The effect of environmental factors on phytoplankton growth: Light and the interactions of light with nitrate limitation 1
Author(s) -
Rhee G-ull,
Gotham Ivan J.
Publication year - 1981
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.1981.26.4.0649
Subject(s) - chemostat , irradiance , nutrient , nitrate , phytoplankton , saturation (graph theory) , growth rate , chlorophyll a , biology , environmental chemistry , zoology , chemistry , ecology , botany , mathematics , physics , optics , genetics , geometry , combinatorics , bacteria
The effects of simultaneous limitations of light and nutrient on growth were investigated with turbidostat and chemostat cultures of Scenedesmus sp. and Fragilaria crotonensis. The combined effects were greater than the sum of individual effects and were not multiplicative. Under nitrate‐limited conditions the cell quota of the limiting nutrient for a constant growth rate and the subsistance quota ( q o ) increased as irradiance decreased. Within a certain limit of growth rates, light and q N can compensate for each other in maintaining growth rate. Under nutrient‐sufficient conditions, cell quotas of C, N, and P, and cellular chlorophyll a concentration increased as light decreased below saturation. The cell quotas are the maximum level ( q m ) that can be achieved at a given irradiance. Cell quotas of nonlimiting nutrients in nutrient‐limited cultures are the same as these q m values. The increasing levels of q m and q o with decreasing irradiance indicate that nutrient requirements increase as irradiance decreases.