Nutrient and temperature control of the contribution of picoplankton to phytoplankton biomass and production

Abstract

The observation that the relative importance of picophytoplankton is greatest in warm and nutrient-poor waters was tested here based on a comprehensive review of the data available in the literature from oceanic and coastal estuarine areas. Results show that picophytoplankton dominate ($50$50%) autotrophic biomass and production obtained in the comparative analysis. The fraction contributed by picoplankton significantly declined (r2 5 0.76 and 0.90, respectively, P, 0.001) as total autotrophic production and biomass increased. These results support the increasing importance of picophytoplankton in warm, oligotrophic waters. The reduced contribution of picophytoplankton in warm productive waters is hypothesized here to be due to increase