Question

Why does phosphorous cause phytoplankton biomass to double whereas Nitrogen has no effect? If you are referring to a specific experiment, please include details of it,

Answer 1

Phosphorus and nitrogen both are required for algal growth. But phosphorus is a rate limiting factor and also essential nutrients in plant and algae. If the amount of phosphorus is increased in water bodies than it can lead to increased algal blooms. As phosphorus play important role in process of carbohydrates ultilization but in deficiency or low concentration of phosphorus they are not able to Utilize the carbohydrates and hence fail to produce energy.and without energy the growt of the plant reduce and also of algae because of above listed reasons so we can say that phosphorus is a essential component