Adaptation and niche breadth of phytoplankton species along a nutrient gradient in the ocean

In the phytoplankton of the western North Atlantic, species are considered adapted to impoverished nutrient availability if they respond best to such conditions, and are considered unadapted only if they do not respond. The same holds for improved nutrient availability. Further, if species adapted t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Plankton Research
Main Author: Hulburt, Edward M.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 1985
Subjects:
Online Access:http://plankt.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/7/4/581
https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/7.4.581
Description
Summary:In the phytoplankton of the western North Atlantic, species are considered adapted to impoverished nutrient availability if they respond best to such conditions, and are considered unadapted only if they do not respond. The same holds for improved nutrient availability. Further, if species adapted to impoverished nutrient availability are broader niched, then narrower niched species are adapted only to improved nutrient availability. Thus two kinds of species are described: (i) adapted-to-impoverished-nutrient, broader niched species; (ii) adapted-to-improved-nutrient, narrower niched species.