Use of nitrate reductase (NR) activlty as an index of rates of nltrate Incorporation in m a n n e phytoplankton has been complicated by inadequate assays, and the high degree of regulation of the enzyme under different non-steady-state conditions The relationship between NR activity and rates of nitrate incorporation was examined uslng a modified NR assay (which Included bovine serum albumln) under diel p e r~o d~c i t y in irrad~ance, following exhaustion of nitrate, and in the presence of ammonium Laboratory experiments using the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana showed that on a 14 10 h hght dark cycle, NR activity had 2 d~stinct peaks within 1 cycle, one in the m~d d l e of the light period, and the other towards the end of the dark penod Each of these peaks has been noted In previous work, both in culture and in natural populations, but this is the first descnpt~on of both in 1 cycle Throughout the d~e l cycle, NR activ~ty closely matched rates of nitrate incorporation calculated from increases in part~culate nitrogen In the cultures As n~t r a t e was exhausted in the cultures, NR actlvity declined in step w~t h nitrate incorporation rates (estimated from nitrate depletion, increases in part~culate nltrogen or the product of cell growth rate and cell nitrogen content) In cultures where n~t r a t e was substituted by ammonium, no NR activity was detected, but when ammonium was exhausted, background contamination of the medium with nitrate (approximately 1 PM) was suffic~ent to cause the appearance of NR activity and the uptake of nitrate Dally additions of 2 pM ammonium to cultures growing on nitrate had no effect on the r e l a t~o n s h~p between NR activity and nitrate incorporat~on rate The NR assay was used in a preliminary study of natural assemblages of phytoplankton in Monterey Bay, California, USA, during a post-upwelling diatom bloom Die1 periodicity in NR activity was observed that was virtually identical to that found in laboratory cultures Ammonium inhibition on a time scale simllar to that seen in culture was also recorded These preliminary results are promlslng for the use of NR activity to estimate rates of nltrate incorporat~on In field populat~on of phytoplankton KEY WORDS: N~t r a t e reductase . Enzyme activity . Nitrate incorporatlon . Marine phytoplankton .