Light absorption and size scaling of light‐limited metabolism in marine diatoms

Finkel, Zoe V.

doi:10.4319/lo.2001.46.1.0086

Cited by 232 publications

(242 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(65 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

204

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Light limitation should select for smaller diatoms, which are less susceptible to light limitation due to their higher pigment-specific absorption efficiencies ( Finkel 2001;Finkel et al 2004) and lower sinking rates (Smayda 1970;Huisman & Sommeijer 2002), and which will tend to increase the proportion of the day they spend in the upper sunlit waters compared with larger diatoms (Smol et al 1984). The southeastern Ontario lakes examined in this study have higher nutrient inputs and chlorophyll a concentrations (0.6-8.4 mg m K3 ) than typical oceanic systems (global average: 0.2-0.3 mg m K3 ) or the oligotrophic Lake Tahoe (maximum concentration approx.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental control of diatom community size structure varies across aquatic ecosystems

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Changes in the size structure of photoautotrophs influence food web structure and the biogeochemical cycling of carbon. Decreases in the median size of diatoms within communities, in concert with climate warming and water column stratification, have been observed over the Cenozoic in the ocean and over the last 50 years in Lake Tahoe. Decreases in the proportion of larger plankton are frequently observed in response to reduced concentrations of limiting nutrients in marine systems and large stratified lakes. By contrast, we show a decrease in the median size of planktonic diatoms in response to higher nutrient concentrations in a set of intermediate-sized alkaline lakes. Climate-induced increases in the frequency, duration and strength of water column stratification may select smaller planktonic species in the ocean and larger lakes owing to a reduction in nutrient availability and sinking rates, while light limitation, stimulated by nutrient eutrophication and high chlorophyll concentrations, may select smaller species within a community owing to their high light absorption efficiencies and lower sinking rates. The relative importance of different physiological and ecological rates and processes on the size structure of communities varies in different aquatic systems owing to varying combinations of abiotic and biotic constraints.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental control of diatom community size structure varies across aquatic ecosystems

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some simple allometric trade-offs are imposed (Figure 1b): Phytoplankton in the large size class are distinguished by higher intrinsic maximum growth rates and faster sinking speeds [Laws, 1975]. They also draw parameter values from distributions with higher-nutrient half-saturations (assuming they are less efficient at acquiring nutrients [Gavis, 1976]) and are assumed to be high light adapted due to packaging effects [Ravin and Falkowski, 1997;Finkel, 2001].…”

Section: A4 Dom and Pom Source Termsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the coupling of ocean ecology and biogeochemistry

Dutkiewicz

Follows

Bragg

2009

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

222

321

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] We examine the interplay between ecology and biogeochemical cycles in the context of a global three-dimensional ocean model where self-assembling phytoplankton communities emerge from a wide set of potentially viable cell types. We consider the complex model solutions in the light of resource competition theory. The emergent community structures and ecological regimes vary across different physical environments in the model ocean: Strongly seasonal, high-nutrient regions are dominated by fast growing bloom specialists, while stable, low-seasonality regions are dominated by organisms that can grow at low nutrient concentrations and are suited to oligotrophic conditions. In the latter regions, the framework of resource competition theory provides a useful qualitative and quantitative diagnostic tool with which to interpret the outcome of competition between model organisms, their regulation of the resource environment, and the sensitivity of the system to changes in key physiological characteristics of the cells.

show abstract

“…nutrients and light, on phytoplankton population growth depend on body size (Finkel, 2001;Finkel et al, 2004;Irwin et al, 2006). In general, large phytoplankton exhibit a lower photosynthesis rate because of the package effect (Berner et al, 1989) and a lower nutrient uptake rate because of lower surface-to-volume ratio (Kiørboe, 1993).…”

Section: F H Chang Et Al: Scaling Of Growth Rate and Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling of growth rate and mortality with size and its consequence on size spectra of natural microphytoplankton assemblages in the East China Sea

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Allometric scaling of body size versus growth rate and mortality has been suggested to be a universal macroecological pattern, as described by the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE). However, whether such scaling generally holds in natural assemblages remains debated. Here, we test the hypothesis that the size-specific growth rate and grazing mortality scale with the body size with an exponent of −1/4 after temperature correction, as MTE predicts. To do so, we couple a dilution experiment with the FlowCAM imaging system to obtain size-specific growth rates and grazing mortality of natural microphytoplankton assemblages in the East China Sea. This novel approach allows us to achieve highly resolved size-specific measurements that would be very difficult to obtain in traditional size-fractionated measurements using filters. Our results do not support the MTE prediction. On average, the size-specific growth rates and grazing mortality scale almost isometrically with body size (with scaling exponent ∼0.1). However, this finding contains high uncertainty, as the size-scaling exponent varies substantially among assemblages. The fact that size-scaling exponent varies among assemblages prompts us to further investigate how the variation of size-specific growth rate and grazing mortality can interact to determine the microphytoplankton size structure, described by normalized biomass size spectrum (NBSS), among assemblages. We test whether the variation of microphytoplankton NBSS slopes is determined by (1) differential grazing mortality of small versus large individuals, (2) differential growth rate of small versus large individuals, or (3) combinations of these scenarios. Our results indicate that the ratio of the grazing mortality of the large size category to that of the small size category best explains the variation of NBSS slopes across environments, suggesting that higher grazing mortality of large microphytoplankton may release the small phytoplankton from grazing, which in turn leads to a steeper NBSS slope. This study contributes to understanding the relative importance of bottom-up versus top-down control in shaping microphytoplankton size structure

show abstract

Light absorption and size scaling of light‐limited metabolism in marine diatoms

Cited by 232 publications

References 43 publications

Environmental control of diatom community size structure varies across aquatic ecosystems

Environmental control of diatom community size structure varies across aquatic ecosystems

Modeling the coupling of ocean ecology and biogeochemistry

Scaling of growth rate and mortality with size and its consequence on size spectra of natural microphytoplankton assemblages in the East China Sea

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About