Apparent Dominance of Regenerated Primary Production in the Yellow Sea

Abstract

The Yellow Sea is known to be a very productive region in terms of fisheries. However, its trophic status seems to be highly variable, ranging from oligotrophic to eutrophic, based on new production (NP) values. The NP and regenerated production (RP) values estimated from 15N -labelled nitrate and ammonium uptake in spring (April 1996) and winter (February 1997) during this study ranged from 0.05 to 19.8 mg Nm−2d−1 and from 0.1 to 22.8 mg Nm−2d−1 , respectively. Our measurements and earlier observations suggested that NP in the Yellow Sea varied over the four orders of magnitude (range 0.05-180.9 mg Nm−2d−1 ) temporally and spatially, and that RP (range 0.1-507.5 mg Nm−2d−l ) based on ammonium predominated during most period of the year, except in winter when both productions were low. The significant nitrogen uptake by phytoplankton below the euphotic zone and episodic entrainment of phytoplankton from below the euphotic zone into the euphotic zone, and nitrite excretion and dissolved organic nitrogen release during nitrate uptake might explain the apparent dominance of RP in the Yellow Sea.