Top-down control of marine phytoplankton diversity in a global ecosystem model.

Prowe, Friederike , Pahlow, Markus, Dutkiewicz, S., Follows, M. and Oschlies, Andreas (2012) Top-down control of marine phytoplankton diversity in a global ecosystem model. Progress in Oceanography, 101 . pp. 1-13. DOI 10.1016/j.pocean.2011.11.016.

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Abstract

The potential of marine ecosystems to adapt to ongoing environmental change is largely unknown, making prediction of consequences for nutrient and carbon cycles particularly challenging. Realizing that biodiversity might influence the adaptation potential, recent model approaches have identified bottom-up controls on patterns of phytoplankton diversity regulated by nutrient availability and seasonality. Top-down control of biodiversity, however, has not been considered in depth in such models. Here we demonstrate how zooplankton predation with prey-ratio based food preferences can enhance phytoplankton diversity in a ecosystem-circulation model with self-assembling community structure. Simulated diversity increases more than threefold under preferential grazing relative to standard density-dependent predation, and yields better agreement with observed distributions of phytoplankton diversity. The variable grazing pressure creates refuges for less competitive phytoplankton types, which reduces exclusion and improves the representation of seasonal phytoplankton succession during blooms. The type of grazing parameterization also has a significant impact on primary and net community production. Our results demonstrate how a simple parameterization of a zooplankton community response affects simulated phytoplankton community structure, diversity and dynamics, and motivates development of more detailed representations of top-down processes essential for investigating the role of diversity in marine ecosystems.

Document Type: Article
Additional Information: WOS:000305379300001
Keywords: Biogeochemistry; marine ecosystem; phytoplankton; COPEPOD ACARTIA-TONSA; NORTH-ATLANTIC; FUNCTIONAL-RESPONSES; SPECIES-DIVERSITY; PLANKTON; BIODIVERSITY; OCEAN; BEHAVIOR; DYNAMICS; PRODUCTIVITY
Research affiliation: OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB2 Marine Biogeochemistry > FB2-BM Biogeochemical Modeling
OceanRep > The Future Ocean - Cluster of Excellence
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: Elsevier
Projects: Future Ocean
Date Deposited: 05 Dec 2011 11:55
Last Modified: 16 Oct 2020 08:42
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/12761

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