In:
PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Vol. 17, No. 9 ( 2022-9-16), p. e0274183-
Abstract:
Under most natural marine conditions, phytoplankton cells suspended in the water column are too distantly spaced for direct competition for resources (i.e., overlapping cell boundary layers) to be a routine occurrence. Accordingly, resource-based competitive exclusion should be rare. In contrast, contemporary ecosystem models typically predict an exclusion of larger phytoplankton size classes under low-nutrient conditions, an outcome interpreted as reflecting the competitive advantage of small cells having much higher nutrient ‘affinities’ than larger cells. Here, we develop mechanistically-focused expressions for steady-state, nutrient-limited phytoplankton growth that are consistent with the discrete, distantly-spaced cells of natural populations. These expressions, when encompassed in a phytoplankton-zooplankton model, yield sustained diversity across all size classes over the full range in nutrient concentrations observed in the ocean. In other words, our model does not exhibit resource-based competitive exclusion between size classes previously associated with size-dependent differences in nutrient ‘affinities’.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1932-6203
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0274183
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0274183.g001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0274183.g002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0274183.g003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0274183.g004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0274183.g005
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0274183.t001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0274183.s001
Language:
English
Publisher:
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Publication Date:
2022
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2267670-3
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