Skip Navigation



JPR Advance Access published online on April 18, 2005
Journal of Plankton Research, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbi021
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
27/5/473    most recent
fbi021v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cermeño, P.
Right arrow Articles by Fernández, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Cermeño, P.
Right arrow Articles by Fernández, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© Oxford University Press.2005. All rights reserved. for Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Received February 2, 2005
Accepted April 6, 2005

Article

Size dependence of coastal phytoplankton photosynthesis under vertical mixing conditions

Pedro Cermeño 1*, Emilio Marañón 2, Jaime Rodríguez 3, and Emilio Fernández 1

1 Departamento de Ecología y Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
2 Departamento de Ecología y Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain; Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche, CNRS-UPMC, 06234 Villefranche-sur-mer, France
3 Departamento de Ecología y Geología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, 29071 Málaga, Spain

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Pedro Cermeño, E-mail: pca{at}uvigo.es


  Abstract

We have determined the relationship between carbon-specific photosynthesis and phytoplankton cell size in a coastal ecosystem. The normalised size spectra of carbon (C) biomass and photosynthesis allow to determine both biomass and photosynthesis within any size class along the community size spectrum. By dividing the size spectra of photosynthesis and biomass, the size spectrum of C-specific photosynthesis is derived. Our results indicated a high variability in the slope of the C-specific photosynthesis size spectrum. Under favourable conditions for growth, in the upper euphotic layer, the slope was positive, indicating that larger phytoplankton attained higher C-specific photosynthesis rates than the smaller cells. This pattern represents a significant departure from the expected, literature value of -0.25 for the size-scaling of biomass-specific metabolism. We suggest that this change in the slope may be caused by the changes in the taxonomic composition along the community size spectrum. Towards the bottom of the euphotic layer, we observed a decrease in the slope of the C-specific photosynthesis size spectrum, which could be associated with an enhanced package effect in larger cells under light-limited conditions. These results question the applicability of single and overall exponents to describe the size scaling of photosynthesis in natural phytoplankton assemblages

Keywords: Phytoplankton, size spectrum, biomass, photosynthesis.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J PLANKTON RESHome page
E. Maranon
Inter-specific scaling of phytoplankton production and cell size in the field
J. Plankton Res., February 1, 2008; 30(2): 157 - 163.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J PLANKTON RESHome page
A. Reul, J. Rodriguez, J. M. Blanco, A. Rees, and P. H. Burkill
Control of microplankton size structure in contrasting water columns of the Celtic Sea
J. Plankton Res., May 1, 2006; 28(5): 449 - 457.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J PLANKTON RESHome page
A. J. Irwin, Z. V. Finkel, O. M. E. Schofield, and P. G. Falkowski
Scaling-up from nutrient physiology to the size-structure of phytoplankton communities
J. Plankton Res., May 1, 2006; 28(5): 459 - 471.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.