Biogenic silica standing stock and productivity on the Mississippi-Alabama Shelf, March to July, 2016

Diatoms are an important phytoplankton group in this region as they can dominate both the standing stock of phytoplankton and the rate of primary production at times. Unlike other phytoplankton groups, diatoms have an obligate requirement for silicon. Because diatoms can be important to regional primary production, there can be a strong coupling between the regional C and Si cycles. Because of this coupling, measurement of biogenic silica (bSi) production is a useful proxy to deduce the diatom-specific contribution to community rates, as silicoflagellates and radiolarians (which both use Si to build shells) are comparatively minor in biomass and grow slower than diatoms. Data were collected during cruises PTS02 and PTS03 on the Mississippi-Alabama shelf from March-July, 2016. This dataset supports the publication: Dzwonkowski, B., Greer, A.T., Briseño-Avena, C., Krause, J.W., Soto, I.M., Hernandez, F.J., Deary, A.L., Wiggert, J.D., Joung, D., Fitzpatrick, P.J., O'Brien, S.J., Dykstra, S.L., Lau, Y., Cambazoglu, M.K., Lockridge, G., Howden, S.D., Shiller, A.M., and Graham, W.M. (2017). Estuarine influence on biogeochemical properties of the Alabama shelf during the fall season. Continental Shelf Research, 140: 96-109 doi: 10.1016/j.csr.2017.05.001. Related size-fractionated nitrate uptake and primary productivity data can be found in GRIIDC dataset R4.x260.000:0092.