Journal
JOURNAL OF PLANKTON RESEARCH
Volume 43, Issue 2, Pages 103-112Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/plankt/fbab014
Keywords
plankton; biomass; confocal microscopy; biovolume; cell size; carbon; nitrogen
Categories
Funding
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration [80NSSC17K0716]
- National Science Foundation [OCE-1736635, CBET-1828057]
- National Science Foundation, Research Experience for Undergraduate fellowship at the University of Rhode Island [OCE-1757572]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In this study, the relationship between phytoplankton cell volume and carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content was examined using three-dimensional (3D) confocal images. It was found that the volume measurement method and growth conditions had minimal impact on these relationships. Additionally, variation in cellular N and C could range from 30-40% due to different growth conditions.
Phytoplankton biomass is routinely estimated using relationships between cell volume and carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content that have been defined using diverse plankton that span orders of magnitude in size. Notably, volume has traditionally been estimated with geometric approximations of cell shape using cell dimensions from planar two-dimensional (2D) images, which requires assumptions about the third, depth dimension. Given advances in image processing, we examined how cell volumes determined from three-dimensional (3D), confocal images affected established relationships between phytoplankton cell volume and C and N content. Additionally, we determined that growth conditions could result in 30-40% variation in cellular N and C. 3D phytoplankton cell volume measurements were on average 15% greater than the geometric approximations from 2D images. Volume method variation was minimal compared to both intraspecific variation in volumes (similar to 30%) and the 50-fold variation in elemental density among species. Consequently, C:vol and N:vol relationships were unaltered by volume measurement method and growth environment. Recent advances in instrumentation, including those for at sea and autonomous applications can be used to estimate plankton biomass directly. Going forward, we recommend instrumentation that permits species identification alongside size and shape characteristics for plankton biomass estimates.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available