Phosphorus and nitrogen limitation of phytoplankton in the inner Oslofjord (Norway)

Abstract Several criteria of potential phosphorus and nitrogen limitation were applied throughout 1986 to the phytoplankton of the inner Oslofjord, a brackish-marine fjord in southeastern Norway. The criteria were hased on information on concentrations and distribution of nutrients, on analyses of the carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) content of particulate matter in the water column, and on results of deck experiments on the plankton. Indications of nutrient limitation were obtained from seasonal trends in C:N, C:P and N:P ratios, as well as from further shifts in these ratios in plankton kept in a container on deck for 24 hours. Nitrogen limitation was also deduced from an increase in the uptake capacity for ammonium in plankton during 24 hours of containment, and phosphorus limitation from an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity. During diatom blooms. a lowering of the ratio of light to dark rates of nitrate uptake provided one further test for nitrogen limitation. Two other tests (a st...

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