Seasonal variation in marine C:N:P stoichiometry: can the composition of seston explain stable Redfield ratios?

  • Frigstad, Helene
  • Andersen, Tom
  • Hessen, Dag Olav
  • Naustvoll, L..J.
  • Johnsen, Torbjørn Martin
  • Bellerby, Richard
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Publication date
January 2011
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH

Abstract

Seston is suspended particulate organic matter, comprising a mixture of autotrophic, heterotrophic and detrital material. Despite variable proportions of these components, marine seston often exhibits relatively small deviations from the Redfield ratio (C:N:P = 106:16:1). Two time-series from the Norwegian shelf in Skagerrak are used to identify drivers of the seasonal variation in seston elemental ratios. An ordination identified water mass characteristics and bloom dynamics as the most important drivers for determining C:N, while changes in nutrient concentrations and biomass were most important for the C:P and N:P relationships. There is no standardized method for determining the functional composition of seston and the fractions of POC,...

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