How do sinking phytoplankton species manage to persist?

The American Naturalist
Jef HuismanBen Sommeijer

Abstract

Phytoplankton require light for photosynthesis. Yet, most phytoplankton species are heavier than water and therefore sink. How can these sinking species persist? Somehow, the answer should lie in the turbulent motion that redisperses sinking phytoplankton over the vertical water column. Here, we show, using a reaction-advection-diffusion equation of light-limited phytoplankton, that there is a turbulence window sustaining sinking phytoplankton species in deep waters. If turbulent diffusion is too high, phytoplankton are mixed to great depths, and the depth-averaged light conditions are too low to allow net positive population growth. Conversely, if turbulent diffusion is too low, sinking phytoplankton populations end up at the ocean floor and succumb in the dark. At intermediate levels of turbulent diffusion, however, phytoplankton populations can outgrow both mixing rates and sinking rates. In this way, the reproducing population as a whole can maintain a position in the well-lit zone near the top of the water column, even if all individuals within the population have a tendency to sink. This theory unites earlier classic results by Sverdrup and Riley as well as our own recent findings and provides a new conceptual framework f...Continue Reading

References

Dec 6, 2001·Bulletin of Mathematical Biology·U EbertJ Huisman

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Citations

Dec 6, 2001·Bulletin of Mathematical Biology·U EbertJ Huisman
Sep 17, 2008·Journal of Mathematical Biology·Theodore KolokolnikovYuan Yuan
Nov 7, 2006·Bulletin of Mathematical Biology·Frithjof LutscherEdward McCauley
Apr 25, 2012·Bulletin of Mathematical Biology·Yasmine Samia, Frithjof Lutscher
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Jun 13, 2015·Journal of Mathematical Biology·Rui Peng, Xiao-Qiang Zhao
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Jun 4, 2019·Global Change Biology·Rebecca G AschJorge L Sarmiento
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Jul 9, 2021·Journal of Mathematical Biology·Jimin ZhangXiaoyuan Chang

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