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The paradox of the plankton: Fluctuations of phosphorus availability maintain diversity of phytoplankton in flow‐through cultures 1
Author(s) -
Sommer Ulrich
Publication year - 1984
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.1984.29.3.0633
Subject(s) - phytoplankton , competitive exclusion , plankton , competition (biology) , ecology , phosphorus , diversity (politics) , nutrient , environmental science , resource (disambiguation) , flow (mathematics) , biology , chemistry , computer science , mechanics , physics , computer network , organic chemistry , sociology , anthropology
Competition experiments with phytoplankton under steady state conditions have largely verified the competitive exclusion principle. Coexistence of species limited by different resources contributes little to the explanation of the natural diversity of phytoplankton. It is shown by multispecies experiments in flow‐through cultures that pulsed input of a key nutrient allows the coexistence of species competing for the same resource.