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Water
Volume 13
Issue 22
10.3390/w13223166
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Article
Peer-Review Record

Growth and Nutrient Uptake Characteristics of Heterosigma akashiwo (Raphidophyceae) under Nitrogen and Phosphorus Concentrations in the East China Sea

Water 2021, 13(22), 3166; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13223166
by Anqiang Yang 1, Richard G. J. Bellerby 1,2,*, Yanna Wang 1 and Xiaoshuang Li 1
Reviewer 1: Anonymous
Reviewer 2: Anonymous
Water 2021, 13(22), 3166; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13223166
Submission received: 29 September 2021 / Revised: 20 October 2021 / Accepted: 30 October 2021 / Published: 10 November 2021
(This article belongs to the Section Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript “Growth and nutrient uptake characteristics of Heterosigma  akashiwo (Raphidophyceae) under nitrogen and phosphorus  concentrations in the East China Sea” deals with an important topic for understanding the dynamics of algal blooms.  However, some aspects of experimental design are questionable and in my opinion  they could  have influenced the results.

As a consequence, my advices  to improve the manuscript are related to sampling and measurement section (2.3)

The first question is, If microalga Heterosigma akashiwo was maintained in f/2 medium for 11 months before the experiments, have you consider the nutrient storage at the beginning of the experiments?

The second question is related to the way to estimated cell  nutrient quota and nutrient uptake rates. The formula for calculus cell quota was based on  the decrease of nutrient concentration and the increase of cell densities in the medium.   Why don’t you used a method for calculus of  nutrient cell quota based on intracellular content?

How did you take into account  eventual adsorption phenomena of nutrients? In particular phosphorus adsorption phenomena?

At the end the detection limit for nutrient concentration measurements reported in the manuscript  was very low for the analytic method used ( Colorimetric method with continuous flow analyser). Were the detection limits (LOD) for ammonia, nitrate and phosphorus  verified  in the lab with specific  procedures (regression analysis etc) or  were those reported in the user manual of the instrument?

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper presents the results of the HAB growth experiment of the species Heterosigma akashiwo under conditions of different concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen nutrients. The work is another valuable contribution to the knowledge of the influence of eutrophication and nutrient-salt ratios on the growth of HAB species. The value of the work lies in the fact that the concentrations of nutrient salts normally found in the East China Sea were used for the experiment. The work can be published in its present form with minor corrections
Data and statistical analysis line 108: Please clarify where the nutrient concentrations are measured (in the water or in the cells). Also explain in more detail how the cell ratios are calculated.

Results Table 1: Add all 4 scenarios to the table.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

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