Disentangling niche competition from grazing mortality in phytoplankton dilution experiments

PloS One
Stephen J Beckett, Joshua S Weitz

Abstract

The dilution method is the principal tool used to infer in situ microzooplankton grazing rates. However, grazing is the only mortality process considered in the theoretical model underlying the interpretation of dilution method experiments. Here we evaluate the robustness of mortality estimates inferred from dilution experiments when there is concurrent niche competition amongst phytoplankton. Using a combination of mathematical analysis and numerical simulations, we find that grazing rates may be overestimated-the degree of overestimation is related to the importance of niche competition relative to microzooplankton grazing. In response, we propose a conceptual method to disentangle the effects of niche competition and grazing by diluting out microzooplankton, but not phytoplankton. Our theoretical results suggest this revised "Z-dilution" method can robustly infer grazing mortality, regardless of the dominant phytoplankton mortality driver in our system. Further, we show it is possible to independently estimate both grazing mortality and niche competition if the classical and Z-dilution methods can be used in tandem. We discuss the significance of these results for quantifying phytoplankton mortality rates; and the feasibilit...Continue Reading

References

Jul 11, 1998·Science·P G FalkowskiV Smetacek
Nov 27, 2002·Antonie van Leeuwenhoek·Evelyn B Sherr, Barry F Sherr
Mar 31, 2007·Science·Michael J FollowsSallie W Chisholm
Sep 20, 2012·F1000 Biology Reports·Joshua S Weitz, Steven W Wilhelm
Feb 3, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Ben A Ward, Michael J Follows
Mar 5, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·David A Caron

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Citations

Apr 11, 2019·Environmental Microbiology·David TalmyMichael J Follows
Sep 21, 2018·Frontiers in Microbiology·Stephen J Beckett, Joshua S Weitz
May 24, 2020·Global Change Biology·Erika C FreemanAnn-Kristin Bergström

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