Growth Rates of Marine Phytoplankton: Correlation with Light Absorption by Cell Chlorophyll a

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Abstract
To better predict plant production in the sea, it would be desirable to be able to calculate, from easily obtainable measurements at one sampling, the growth rate of the prevailing stock of phytoplankton. To this end growth rates, pigment composition, cell volume and cell surface area data were collected for several species of marine phytoplankton in logarithmic growth at 20–21°C and 0.07 cal/cm2. min light intensity. Similar data for one species, Dunaliella tertiolecta, are given for several combinations of light intensity and temperature, and for another species, Ditylum brightwellii, grown in nitrogen deficiency.The problem of estimating growth rates of phytoplankton was divided into three parts: 1) variation of growth rate among diverse species and its relationship to light absorption by cell chlorophyll a: 2) variation in growth rate with light intensity; 3) variation in growth rate with temperature. An equation has been formulated for calculating growth rate which provides a more precise fit of the data than do equations for growth rate based upon cell surface/volume ratios or cell volume. The formulation is based upon light absorption by chlorophyll a. It allows for variations in the efficiency of utilization of light absorbed by chlorophyll a and the changes in chlorophyll a content resulting from light intensity and temperature differences. We do not attempt to predict variations in growth rate with photoperiod or spectral distribution, nor do we allow for light effects upon growth rate not mediated by photosynthesis, so the model is, at best, a rough approximation of reality.

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