Nutrient Use and Remineralization - Freshwater Ecology: Concepts and Environmental Applications - page 334

2. Nuisance filamentous benthic algae in the Clark Fork River, Montana,
are limited by nitrogen in the summer, despite the fact that
phosphorus concentrations dissolved in the water at that time are
extremely low. Given that dissolved phosphorus concentrations are
very high in the spring, what is a potential reason for the lack of P
limitation in the summer?
3. Why isn't nutrient limitation necessarily additive (e.g., why is there
generally no response to additions of nonlimiting nutrients)?
4. What is an evolutionary argument for why nutrient competition
should lead to limitation by multiple nutrients?
5. Why may nutrient pulses be more likely to form and persist in
groundwater and wetland sediments than in planktonic habitats?
6. Why are large cells more likely to have high maximum rates of
nutrient uptake, high half-saturation constants, and the ability for
greater luxury consumption relative to small cells?
7. Why do many scientists think that total phosphorus concentrations
are more useful indicators of nutrient supply than dissolved phosphate
concentrations?
8. Why can it be misleading to use the ratio of dissolved inorganic
nitrogen:dissolved phosphate, rather than the Redfield ratio of
organisms, to indicate nutrient limitation?