Abstract
The development and the mean decline rates of nitrate and soluble reactive silicate (SRSi) were studied in stratifying lakes of south-eastern Norway. The concentrations of nitrate and SRSi had often a decline phase with about constant decline rate. The mean decline rate seemed to increase with increasing mean concentration of total phosphorus (TP). The possibility of Si- and N-limiting growth was higher in eutrophic than in oligo- and mesotrophic lakes, which may partly explain the higher dominance of Oscillatoria compared with the diatoms in many eutrophic lakes.
In the lakes studied the mean concentration of TP and the spring concentrations of SRSi and nitrate may be used to determine roughly when Si- and N-limiting growth may take place respectively. If the concentrations of SRSi or nitrate are high at the beginning of the growth season and the mean concentration of TP is low, Si- or N-limiting growth may not take place.
The SRSi : NO3 decline ratio often varied between 2 and 8 and Si was always the first of these two nutrients to become growth-limiting.
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Løvstad, Ø., Bjørndalen, K. Nutrients (P, N, Si) and growth conditions for diatoms and Oscillatoria spp. in lakes of south-eastern Norway. Hydrobiologia 196, 255–263 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00006137
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00006137