Suttle, C.A. and P.J. Harrison. 1986. Phosphorus uptake rates of phytoplankton assemblages grown at different dilution rates in semi-continuous culture. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 43:1474-1481.

The authors studied the effects of pulsed nutrient supplies on the physiology of natural phytoplankton assemblages. A natural phytoplankton community, from an oligotrophic lake, was grown at several dilution rates from 0.1 to 1.5 /d in P-limited semicontinuous cultures. Particulate C:P and N:P ratios (by atoms) were approximately 300:1 and 50:1, respectively, at the lowest dilution rate and 40:1 and 7:1, respectively, at the highest dilution rate. This demonstrates that a range of P-limited conditions can be established using the semi-continuous culturing technique. The time-course of uptake, in response to a saturating addition of phosphate, revealed that there was a short lag before maximum rates of uptake were observed at all but the highest dilution rate, and that maximum uptake rates over the first 30 min of incubation were higher at intermediate dilution rates.