Participation of diatoms in the amino acid cycle of coastal waters; uptake and excretion in cultures

Abstract

Micro-algae are thought to be involved in the turnover of pools of dissolved free amino acids (DFAA) in seawater either by their excretion or by the uptake of these compounds. Our study showed that, in vitro, 3 benthic diatom species were able to deplete small additions of individual Lamino acids down to concentrations below 10 to 40 nmol I-',