1. Fig. 1. Relationship between maximal growth rates and cell sizes of phytoplankton taken from various sources in the literature, measured at or recalculated for 18–20 °C. Single species data assembled by Finkel et al. (2010) (circles: diatoms, squares: dinoflagellates, diamonds: others); upper boundary curves derived theoretically by Wirtz: full, gray line for “greens” (i.e. all non-diatoms lacking a decrease of carbon density with cell size); full black line: centric diatoms (deviation from greens due to decreasing C-density); broken line: needle shaped diatoms, accounting for the additional effect of elongation. Additional regression lines from the literature: red: Banse (1982); diatoms; magenta: Banse (1982), dinoflagellates; dark blue: Sommer (1989); light blue: Tang (1995); green: Finkel et al. (2010); orange: Edwards et al., 2012; black: Marañón et al. (2013). (The graph is based on Fig. 3 by Wirtz (2011) used with friendly permission by Oxford University Press.)
From: Benefits, costs and taxonomic distribution of marine phytoplankton body size
J Plankton Res. 2016;39(3): doi: /plankt/fbw071
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2. Fig. 3. Size ranges of phytoplankton grazers and their typical phytoplankton prey. Numbers on top of the graph indicate order of magnitude of bloom abundances during blooms; HNF: hetrotrophic nanoflagellates; CIL: ciliates; DIN: dinoflagellates; APP: appendicularians; COP: copepods; SALP: salps; KRILL: krill.
From: Benefits, costs and taxonomic distribution of marine phytoplankton body size
J Plankton Res. 2016;39(3): doi: /plankt/fbw071
J Plankton Res | © The Author Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please

3. Fig. 2. Influence of cell size (radius in µm) and density (in kg m⁻³) on floating speed (in m d⁻¹) of phytoplankton lighter than water and sinking speed of phytoplankton heavier than water, assuming a density of seawater of 1025 kg m⁻³ (18 °C, 35 PSU), calculated according to Stoke's law. Thick lines are for densities close to the observed extremes.
From: Benefits, costs and taxonomic distribution of marine phytoplankton body size
J Plankton Res. 2016;39(3): doi: /plankt/fbw071
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4. Fig. 4. Size ranges of higher phytoplankton taxa (CYAN: cyanobacteria; DINO: dinoflagellates; CRYPT: cryptophytes; PRYM: prymnesiophytes; CHRYS: chrysophytes; DIAT: diatoms; GREEN: green algae) in marine (black) and freshwater (gray) phytoplankton.
From: Benefits, costs and taxonomic distribution of marine phytoplankton body size
J Plankton Res. 2016;39(3): doi: /plankt/fbw071
J Plankton Res | © The Author Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please