Size related processes in phytoplankton

• Main Author: Sandow, Marcel
• Other Authors: Sommer, Ulrich, Oschlies, A.
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: ddc:570; thesis; Atlantischer Ozean <Nord>; Phytoplankton; Turnover; subtropical gyre; size; nitrogen fixation; allometry; biogeochemistry; Atlantic; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:8-diss-12030; https://macau.uni-kiel.de/receive/diss_mods_00001203; https://macau.uni-kiel.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/dissertation_derivate_00001203/d1203.pdf

Growth, death, respiration, excretion and sedimentation describe the major rate processes of phytoplankton. These rates often scale allometrically (rate=a*mass^b). The allometric coefficient (b) describes the deviation from a linear reltionship. Literature values derived from experiments showed allometric coefficients of -0.48 to -0.1. Experiments with natural phytoplankton communities from the baltic and the subtropical gyre of the North Atlantic ocean showed an allometric coeffcient range of -0.72 to -0.3. The results indicate that size scaling of rate processes in phytoplankton is more pronounced than previously thought.