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Marine Ecology Progress Series

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MEPS 527:59-71 (2015)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11218

Responses of autotrophic and heterotrophic rates of plankton from a subtropical coastal site to short-term temperature modulations

Bingzhang Chen*, Kailin Liu

State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Fujian Provincial Joint Key Laboratory of Coastal Ecology and Environmental Studies, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, PR China
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: We investigated the responses of plankton collected throughout a seasonal cycle from a eutrophic, subtropical coastal site near Xiamen, China to short-term temperature modulations from the in situ ambient temperature. We used linear mixed effect models to estimate the temperature coefficients (i.e. activation energy) and tested the hypothesis that the activation energies of autotrophic rates (i.e. phytoplankton growth and photosynthesis) are lower than those of heterotrophic rates (i.e. microzooplankton grazing and community respiration). However, we found that there were no significant differences of activation energy (~0.65 eV) between autotrophic and heterotrophic rates. Based on both physiological and statistical grounds, we argue that the inherent activation energies of phytoplankton photosynthesis and growth rates may not be lower than 0.65 eV in some instances.


KEY WORDS: Temperature · Phytoplankton · Growth · Grazing · Activation energy · Photosynthesis · Respiration


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Cite this article as: Chen B, Liu K (2015) Responses of autotrophic and heterotrophic rates of plankton from a subtropical coastal site to short-term temperature modulations. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 527:59-71. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11218

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