Determination of Low Phosphate Concentrations in Seawater by an Isobutyl Acetate Extraction Procedure Author(s): B. S. Cescon and P. G.

Scarazzato Source: Limnology and Oceanography, Vol. 18, No. 3 (May, 1973), pp. 499-500 Published by: American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2834480 . Accessed: 25/03/2014 21:19
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NOTES

499
Seleniumin biomedicine.Int. Symp. (1st), Oregon State Univ. 1966. AVI Publ.

OKSANEN,H. E., AND M. SANDHOLM. 1970. The selenium content of Finnish forage crops. J. Sci. Agr. Soc. Finl. 42: 251-254. SHRIFT, A. 1967. Microbial research with selenium, p. 241-271. In 0. H. Muth [ed.],

28 August1972 Submitted: 1973 Accepted:29 January

Determination oflow phosphate in seawater concentrations by an isobutyl acetateextraction procedure

ABSTRACT

Isobutylacetateis proposedas an extractof low ing reagent for the determination in seawater. Since phosphateconcentrations with water, its use this ester is immiscible both the accuracyand the ease of improves the method.

layer is discarded and the absorbance of the organic layer measured spectrophotometricallyagainst isobutyl acetate at 640 mp in 3-cm path lengthcells. The extracting phase appears clear and centrifugation shows no effecton its absorbance value. The color is stable for at least 1 hr.
RESULTS

procedure was An isobutanol extraction proposed by Stephens (1963) to increase method of the single-solution the sensitivity described by for phosphate determination Murphyand Riley (1962). The methodis based on the extractionof the molybdenum blue complex with 29 ml of isobutanol from200 ml of sample. In spite of reached, Stephens'prothe high sensitivity cedure presents some troubles, especially when applied to seawater (Fossato 1968), due to the partial solubilityof isobutanol in water. In particular,as it is impossible to distinguishbetween the reagents and the water contributions to the blank value, the accuracy of the method is reduced. We propose isobutyl acetate as an extractingreagent. Since this esteris immiscible with both freshand saline water, its use avoids the problemsmentionedabove.

Mean values of replicate determinations on a sample of seawater (S = 36.2%ao) which had been spiked with known amountsof phosphate are reportedin Table 1. The relationship between absorbance and concentration is linear over the range 0.000-0.300 pg-atom liter-' of added phosphate. The mean factorof enrichment is 19.9. The standard deviation,obtained from 10 replicate analyses on the same phosphate standard(0.150 pg-atomliter-1), was ? 0.002 pg-atom P04 liter-'. To improvethe accuracy of the method the contribution to the blank of the reagents alone was evaluated from five replicate determinations: the phosphate content of the blank solution was complexed and removedby extraction and the aqueous layer treated again according to the recommendedprocedure. The absorREAGENTS bance obtained was 0.008 ? 0.001. Several Redistilled isobutyl acetate (B.D.H.) is measurementson freshwaterhave shown on the absorbance. No interused instead of isobutanol. The other re- no salt effect agents are the same as those used by Stephens (1963). Table 1. Absorbance meanvaluesof replicate standards
PROCEDURE

of mixed reagent are Twenty milliliters added to and mixed with 200 ml of sample in a 250-ml separatoryfunnel. After 10 min, 10 ml of isobutyl acetate are added, the mixture shaken for 5 min and allowed to stand for 5 min. The aqueous

Added phosphate (ig-atom literl) 0.000 0.100 0.200 0.300

Absorbance 0.015 0.122 0.228 0.335

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500

NOTES

ferencewas found fromsilicate up to 100 SiO2 liter-1. p,g-atoms B. S. CESCON

Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale Trieste, Italy

REFERENCES

P. G.

SCARAZZATO

Limnol.16: 95-97. di mare. Arch.Oceanogr. 1962. A modified singlesolutionmethodfor the determination of phosphate in naturalwaters. Anal. Chim. Acta 27: 31-36. STEPHENS, K. 1963. Determination of low phosphate concentrations in lake and marinewaters. Limnol. Oceanogr.8: 361-362.
MURPHY, J., AND J. P. RILEY.

FOSSATO, V. U.

1968. Determinazione dei fosfati reattivi a basse concentrazioni nell'acqua

Submitted: 8 December1972 1973 Accepted:1 February

recorder1 plankton bias ofa Longhurst-Hardy Sampling

organism's residence time may be determined by whetherit is in contactwith the net mesh: A plankterenteringat the center of the net mouthmay never touch the mesh, and thus have a shorterresidence time than one enteringat the edge and travelingthe full lengthof the net against the mesh. Without turbulence,the length of travel against the mesh will be a function of the distance from the net centerline at which a plankterenters (radius of entry). If only mesh contact delays the there will be a resipassage of organisms, dence time associated with each radius of entry. When this range of residence times is greater than one sampling interval, smallerthan the disThe need for information on the small- planktonaggregations scale (10 to 100 m) structure of zooplank- tance traveled by the net during one ton distributions has been repeatedly em- interval will be smeared in two or more phasized (e.g. Cushing 1962; Cassie 1963; samples. Smearingwill also occur if inefby the recorder gauze reParsons and LeBrasseur 1970). The Long- ficientfiltering sults in buildup of planktonahead of and hurst-Hardyplankton recorder (LHPR) (Longhurst et al. 1966) has been used to within the recorder. Residence times are increased erratically examine both horizontal (Wiebe 1970; if organismsstick to the mesh of the net; Barraclough et al. 1969; Parsons and Lesome (stallmay adhere only momentarily Brasseur 1970) and vertical (Longhurst ening), othersmay become permanently 1967; Kinzer 1970) small structure. to The LHPR is biased by the residence tangled (hangup). Hangups contribute time of organismswithin the net and re- clogging which may change residence corder before their entrapment on the re- times during a tow as net efficiency corder gauze (Longhurst et al. 1966). An decreases. The bias will be serious if the stalling and synchronously, 1 Supported by National Science Foundation occurs intermittently of flow cause periodic poolGrant GB-12413 and the Marine Life Research or if variations of Oceanography's ing of plankton in the net or recorder Program,Scripps Institution part of the California CooperativeOceanic Fisheries Investigations, sponsored by the Marine Re- before capture on the gauze. These probhigh and low densilems cause artificially searchCommittee of the State of California.
ABSTRACT

The samplingbias due to the residence withinthe net of a vertime of organisms ticallytowed Longhurst-Hardy planktonrecorder was investigated by injectingplastic pellets and preservedzooplanktoninto the net mouthat knowntimesduringtows. The shortest residencetime was 13 sec for tow speeds of from 86 to 103 cm sec'; most plankters remainedin the net much longer. The injectedplankton stalled withinthe net intermittently, causing artificialfluctuations in abundancealong the recorder gauze. Differencesin tow speed caused changes in stalling characteristics. Underestimates of total planktonabundance occurred,probably due to leakage through the recorder and to permanent hangupson the net.

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