MEPS 477:53-60 (2013) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10174
Exudation of organic carbon by marine phytoplankton: dependence on taxon and cell size
Daffne C. López-Sandoval1,*, Tamara Rodríguez-Ramos1, Pedro Cermeño1,2, Emilio Marañón1
ABSTRACT: We determined the relationship between photosynthetic production of dissolved organic carbon (OC) and phytoplankton cell size and taxonomic composition in cultures of marine phytoplankton at 3 different growth stages. We measured OC exudation in 22 species belonging to 5 phyla and spanning >7 orders of magnitude in cell volume. The extracellular release of OC in our cultures represented on average ~2% of total carbon fixation, was not statistically different between growth stages, and was not correlated to cell size. The cell-specific OC exudation rate held an isometric relationship with cell size during the different growth phases (average slope: 0.95), which implies that general allometric models cannot be used to predict exudation in marine phytoplankton.
KEY WORDS: Phytoplankton · Exudation · Cell size · Taxonomic affiliation · Organic carbon
| Full text in pdf format | Cite this article as: López-Sandoval DC, Rodríguez-Ramos T, Cermeño P, Marañón E
(2013) Exudation of organic carbon by marine phytoplankton: dependence on taxon and cell size. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 477:53-60. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10174
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