Cell size trade‐offs govern light exploitation strategies in marine phytoplankton

Summary Marine phytoplankton show complex community structures and biogeographic distributions, the net results of physiological and ecological trade‐offs of species responses to fluctuating, heterogeneous environments. We analysed photosynthesis, responses to variable light and macromolecular allocations across a size panel of marine centric diatoms. The diatoms have strong capacities to withstand and exploit fluctuating light, when compared...