The relative importance of nannoplankton in the North Sea primary production

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Abstract
The South Bight of the North Sea has been investigated for the photosynthetic capacity of net- and nannoplankton, the fractional filtration method being used simultaneously with the C14 technique. The water appeared to be well mixed so that no important variations occurred along the vertical profile. The horizontal distribution of net-/nannoplankton ratios showed, however, a zonation pattern with netplankton-dominant activity near to the coast and nannoplankton-dominant activity further off. The interference of the River Scheldt has also been demonstrated. The various implications of the ‘metabolic structure’ of the phytoplankton community demonstrated by the fractionation method are discussed.