Respiration occurs by both plants and animals throughout the water column, resulting in the destruction, or usage, of organic matter, but photosynthesis can only take place via photosynthetic algae in the presence of light, nutrients and CO. In well-mixed water columns plankton are evenly distributed, but a net production only occurs above the compensation depth. Below the compensation depth there is a net loss of organic matter. The total population of photosynthetic organisms cannot increase if the loss exceeds the net production.
The compensation depth between photosynthesis and respiration of phytoplankton in the ocean must be dependent on some factors: the illumination at the surface, the transparency of the water, the biological character of the plankton present, and the temperature. The compensation point was found nearer to the surface as you move closer to the coast. It is also lower in the winter seasons in the Baltic Sea according to a study that examined the compensation point of multiple photosynthetic species. The blue portion of the visible spectrum, between 455 and 495 nanometers, dominates light at the compensation depth.
A concern regarding the concept of the compensation point is it assumes that phytoplankton remain at a fixed depth throughout a 24-hour period (time frame in which compensation depth is measured), but phytoplankton experience displacement due to isopycnals moving them tens of meters.