RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF DIVIDING AND NONDIVIDING CELLS OF CYANOBACTERIA IN NORTH ATLANTIC PICOPLANKTON 1

• Published in: Journal of Phycology
• Main Authors: Li, William K. W., Dickie, Paul M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1991
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3646.1991.00559.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.0022-3646.1991.00559.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0022-3646.1991.00559.x

ABSTRACT In the North Atlantic over a wide geographic region that includes various oceanic regimes and a temperature range from 10 to 22° C, an increase in the number of nondividing Synechococcus cells (X) was generally accompanied by a greater‐than‐proportional increase in the number of dividing cells (Y). As a result, the fraction of dividing cells (FDC = Y · (Y + X) −1 ) was positively related to population size (Y + X). Recognizing that FDC is generally greater in a rapidly growing population than in a slowly growing one, our empirical finding implies a positive correlation between specific growth rate and standing stock for Synechococcus. One notable exception occurred during winter (T < 5°C) in a eutrophic coastal embayment when a decrease in cell abundance was not matched by a decrease in FDC.