Estimating a Carbon/Chlorophyll Ratio in Nannoplankton (Creteil Lake, S‐e Paris, France)1

The phytoplankton biomass of the Créteil Lake was characterized through 47 paired measurements of particulate organic carbon and chlorophyll. When determining the tranfers of organic carbon in the lake, the need to convert the phytoplankton biomass into carbon units led to the estimation of a carbon to chlorophyll ratio using regression analyses. An average C:Chl ratio of 80 was found. C:Chl has been found to be highly variable but the value commonly used is C:Chl = 40. In Créteil Lake, the high C:Chl value would characterize the nannoplankton that dominated in the lake. No general conversion factor apparently exists for natural populations; thus, more studies may be necessary for a better knowledge of the carbon budget in lakes.