Carbon biomass,carbon-to-chlorophyll a ratio and the growth rate of phytoplankton in Jiaozhou Bay,China

Carbon biomass,carbon-to-chlorophyll a ratio(C꞉Chl a),and the growth rate of phytoplankton cells were studied during four seasonal cruises in 2017 and 2018 in Jiaozhou Bay,China.Water samples were collected from 12 stations,and phytoplankton carbon biomass(phyto-C)was estimated from microscope-measured cell volumes.The phyto-C ranged from 5.05 to 78.52μg C/L in the bay,and it constituted a mean of 38.16% of the total particulate organic carbon in the bay.High phyto-C values appeared mostly in the northern or northeastern bay.Diatom carbon was predominant during all four cruises.Dinoflagellate carbon contributed much less(<30%)to the total phyto-C,and high values appeared often in the outer bay.The C꞉Chl a of phytoplankton cells varied from 11.50 to 61.45(mean 31.66),and high values appeared in the outer bay during all four seasons.The phyto-C was also used to calculate the intrinsic growth rates of phytoplankton cells in the bay,and phytoplankton growth rates ranged from 0.56 to 1.96/d;the rate was highest in summer(mean 1.79/d),followed by that in fall(mean 1.24/d)and spring(mean 1.17/d),and the rate was lowest in winter(mean 0.77/d).Temperature and silicate concentration were found to be the determining factors of phytoplankton growth rates in the bay.To our knowledge,this study is the first report on phytoplankton carbon biomass and C꞉Chl a based on water samples in Jiaozhou Bay,and it will provide useful information for studies on carbon-based food web calculations and carbon-based ecosystem models in the bay.