Microscale nutrient patches produced by zooplankton.
Both track autoradiography and grain-density autoradiography show that individual zooplankton create miniature patches of dissolved nutrients and that algae exploit those regions to absorb phosphate. The patches are short lived and can be dispersed artificially by small-scale turbulence. Our data support a simple model of encounters between algae and nutrient plumes produced by swimming zooplankton.
Division of Biological Sciences, Natural Science Building, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.
J T
JT
Lehman
D
D
Scavia