. 2011 Jul 4;1:30. doi: 10.1038/srep00030

Table 1. Average rates of Si use by communities of planktonic diatoms and sublittoral sponge communities in various marine systems. Diatom Si demands were originally measured as BSi production rates¹,²,³, while sponge demands have been derived from Si uptake rates.

	Si DEMAND
HABITAT/ SYSTEM	(mmol Si m⁻² day⁻¹)
Planktonic diatoms
Coastal upwelling	90
Other coastal conditions	15
Southern ocean	15
Deep ocean	2.3
World ocean average	1.6 – 2.1
Sublittoral sponges
Outer shelf of Belize	0.90
Baltic sublittoral bottoms	0.44
Mediterranean rocky bottoms	0.01

Table 1. Average rates of Si use by communities of planktonic diatoms and sublittoral sponge communities in various marine systems. Diatom Si demands were originally measured as BSi production rates1,2,3, while sponge demands have been derived from Si uptake rates.