On predicting phytoplankton growth rates from carbon:nitrogen ratios 1

Some workers have suggested that phytoplankton C:N (or N:C) ratios might be usefiil in estimating specific growth rates (µ) under nitrogen‐limited field conditions. Howevcr, C:N is a function of µ:µmax rather than µ alone, so that some determination of µmax is required in addition to a C:N measurement before µ can be estimated. Moreover, the relationship between C:N and µ:µmax is not very precise.