Phosphorus cycling and algal-bacterial competition in Sandsfjord, western Norway

Abstract

Microbial phosphorus cycling, with emphasis on algal/bacterial competition, was studied in depth profiles through the halocline separating a brackish top layer, rich in nitrate and poor in phosphate, from the underlying coastal water, poor in both nitrate and phosphate. Concentrations of dissolved organic phosphorus more than two orders of magnitude above the estimated nucleotide level, and with an estimated turnover time of c500h, are consistent with the view that this large P-reservoir consists mainly of slowly hydrolyzable polymers. -from Authors