Can physicochemical factors predict lipid content in phytoplankton?

1. We hypothesized that a large collection of reasonably standardized data for natural algal assemblages would reveal the influence of environmental factors on the fraction of recently produced photosynthate allocated to lipid. 2. Our analysis of photosynthate allocation in fresh‐ and saltwater systems showed that allocation of carbon to lipid was not well correlated with any one environmental factor. 3. Allocation to lipid increases with …