SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATES OF SYNECHOCOCCUS SPP.GROWTH AND GRAZING MORTALITY RATES IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

The marine chroococcoid phycoerythrin-containing Synechococcus spp.cyanobacterium has been impli-cated as a subsetantial component of the photosynthetic picoplankton in the ocean. Although its imppr-tance as food source for heterotrophic nanoplankton is now recognized, information about the cycling ofSynechococcus biomass and its diel pattern is limited and study methodology varies among authors. Theselective metabolic inhibitor method was used to simultaneously estimate growth and grazing disappearancerates of Synechococcus in the English Channel where growth rates ranged from 0.25 to 0.72/d (mean±SD=0.51±0.17/d) and grazing mortality rates ranged from 0.19 to 0.64/d (mean ±SD=0.48±0.17/d).Size-fractionated experiments demonstrated that up to 70% of Synechosoccus disappearance could be attri-buted to grazers going through a 2 μm Nuclepore filter. Synechococcus grazing mortality rates (mean=0.74±0.25/d) during the day were alwnys higher than that (mean=0.21±0.20d) during the night, while growthrat