Effect of vertical cycling on photosynthesis during the annual algal succession in the northern Baltic

During the phytoplankton succession in 1984 and 1985, the effect of fluctuating light on algal photosynthesis (incorporation of ¹⁴C, acidified water sample) was studied in the northern Baltic. Bottles were mounted on moving racks that mimicked vertical transport caused by Langmuir circulations in the trophogenic layer. Assuming that the photoinhibition observed near the surface in fixed-depth incubations (from 1 to 8% of integral photosynthesis) was avoided in cycled samples, vertical cycling conducted around noon resulted in on average 10% lower photosynthesis than fixed-depth incubations (n = 17). This difference lies within the 5% confidence limits of the measurement, and hence it was concluded that the lack of short-term fluctuations in light associated with the vertical circulation of natural phytoplankton communities does not seriously bias conventional in situ ¹⁴CO₂ fixation measurements performed at fixed depths in the study area.