Abstract
ATKINS, who has carried out numerous analyses of the phosphate content of the English Channel, has found that water containing 30 to 40 milligrams of P2O5 per cubic metre in the winter is almost completely devoid of phosphate in the early summer owing to its utilisation by algæ. The depletion occurs first in the upper layers in the spring, when the sunshine begins to exceed about three hours a day. The time varies, and a comparison of one year with another has shown that the main differences are due to the dates when the phytoplankton multiply rapidly and use up the phosphate at a greater rate than it is being re-formed from dead organisms (Harvey, 1928).
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Atkins, W. R. G. Jour. Mar. Biol. Ass., vol. 15, No. 1, 191–205; 1928.
Barnett, G. D., and Barnett, C. W. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 18, 127; 1921.
Harvey, H. W. "Biological Chemistry and Physics of Sea Water". Cambridge University Press (1928).
Ramage, W. D., and Miller, R. C. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc., 47, 1230; 1921.
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SEIWELL, H. Phosphate Content and Hydrogen Ion Concentration of the Surface Water of the English Channel and Southern North Sea, June 18–22, 1928. Nature 122, 921–922 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/122921c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/122921c0
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