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Effect of interactions between temperature and nitrate supply on the cell-division rates of two marine phytoflagellates

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Abstract

Half-saturation constants and maximum cell-division rates were determined at two temperatures for nitrate-limited growth of the two marine phytoflagellates Dunaliella sp. and Gymnodinium splendens, using batch-culture techniques. The halfsaturation constant, K s, increased with increasing temperature, but maximum cell-division rates increased with increasing temperature in only one of the algae studied, G. splendens. It is suggested that changes in Ks with temperature impose a double stress on these phytoplankton when they grow in nitrate-depleted, high-temperature water.

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Communicated by J. Bunt, Miami

Contribution from the Scripps Institution of Oceanog

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Thomas, W.H., Dodson, A.N. Effect of interactions between temperature and nitrate supply on the cell-division rates of two marine phytoflagellates. Mar. Biol. 24, 213–217 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00391895

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