Metabolic and ecological constraints imposed by similar rates of ammonium and nitrate uptake per unit surface area at low substrate concentrations in marine phytoplankton and macroalgae

Marine phytoplankton and macroalgae acquire important resources, such as inorganic nitrogen, from the surrounding seawater by uptake across their entire surface area. Rates of ammonium and nitrate uptake per unit surface area were remarkably similar for both marine phytoplankton and macroalgae at low external concentrations. At an external concentration of 1 mu M, the mean rate of nitrogen uptake was 10 +/- 2 nmol.cm(-2).h(-1) (n=36). There was a strong negative relationship between log surface area:volume (SA:V) quotient and log nitrogen content per cm(2) of surface (slope=-0.77), but a positive relationship between log SA:V and log maximum specific growth rate (mu(max); slope=0.46). There was a strong negative relationship between log SA:V and log measured rate of ammonium assimilation per cm(2) of surface, but the slope (-0.49) was steeper than that required to sustain mu(max) (-0.31). Calculated rates of ammonium assimilation required to sustain growth rates measured in natural populations were similar for both marine phytoplankton and macroalgae with an overall mean of 6.2 +/- 1.4 nmol.cm(-2).h(-1) (n=15). These values were similar to maximum rates of ammonium assimilation in phytoplankton with high SA:V, but the values for algae with low SA:V were substantially less than the maximum rate of ammonium assimilation. This suggests that the growth rates of both marine phytoplankton and macroalgae in nature are often constrained by rates of uptake and assimilation of nutrients per cm(2) surface area.