Re: What is phytoplankton standing stock and production removed/grazed?

Hi Alice
OK...these are the basic terms in Phytoplankton ecology and biology.
Lets look into one by one:

Standing stock : Refers to a number of organisms per unit area or per unit volume of water at the moment of sampling. For Phytoplankton, this can be measured by cell counts using a microscope after the phytoplankton cells are filtered from the seawater sample and preserved. Standing s tock is given in number of cells per volume of water.

Standing stock removed/grazed = removal of Phytoplankton by grazers or the organisms at higher level (zooplanktons, fishes, whales etc) that make use of phytoplankton as their food source.

Production removed/grazed = removal of material produced by phytoplankton as part of their photosynthesis. For instance microorganisms like bacteria that make use of organic and inorganic products of phytoplankton released materials.

For more on this aspect please look at;

Biological Oceanography An Introduction (2nd Edition) Lalli and Parsons. The Open University Press

Biological Oceanographic Processes (3rd Edition) Parsons, Takahashi and Hargrave. Peragmon Press.

Cheers
Shashank