Nutrient Enrichments of Waters of "Golfo de San Jose" (Argentina, 42 oS), Growth and Species Selection of Phytoplankton

Abstract. Coastal Patagonian sea waters had been differentially nutrient-enriched to determine (i) the magnitude of the algal biomass supported and (ii) which species were able to best compete for the available nutrients. Nitrogen was found to be the nutrient limiting growth of the natural phytoplankton population. The addition of NO₃ at 25 μg at 1^-1 led to a 10 to 30 μg 1^-1 increase in chlorophyll a in all but those treatments containing trace metal additions. The best yield coefficients were obtained when a chelator (EDTA) was added with NO₃. A pool of nine diatom species were common in the N0₃ supplemented waters and the addition of vitamins along with NO₃ allowed two of the nine species to dominate.