The short-term interaction between nitrate and ammonium uptake was examined for a marine diatom, Thalassiosira pseudonana, grown in the continuous turbidostat cultures under different degrees of light limitation. Nitrate uptake in the absence and in the presence of ammonium and ammonium uptake in the absence and in the presence of nitrate were measured during a 6 min time course after a solution of both nitrate and ammonium was passed across the cells trapped on the filter.
It was found that the interaction between nitrate and ammonium uptake occurred immediately and continued for the remainder of the time course. The effect of light on the interaction was apparent. In the less light-limited cultures, nitrate uptake was depressed by ammonium. In contrast, in the most light-limited culture, the depression of nitrate uptake by ammonium disappeared. Ammonium uptake was dependent on the degree of light limitation of the cultures. For all the cultures, ammonium uptake was initially enhanced and then declined with time. However, only the initial (1 min) enhanced uptake of ammonium was suppressed by the presence of nitrate, and the subsequent ammonium uptake rate was unaffected. Possible explanations and the ecological significance of the interaction are discussed. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/28361 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Yin, Kedong |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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