What are the nutrients required for algal growth?
In addition to light and carbon, growth of phytoplankton (all photosynthetic aquatic microorganisms including algae and blue-green algae) consumes ‘nutrients’. Every replication of an algal cell roughly demands the uptake and assimilation of a quota of inorganic nutrients similar to that in the mother cell. The elements/nutrients most often implicated in the constraint of algal growth are: nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, and one or two of other trace elements, together with silicon – the well known constraint on diatom growth.
