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MODEL OF CARBON CYCLING IN PLANKTONIC FOOD WEBS
Citation:
Connolly, J. AND R. Coffin. MODEL OF CARBON CYCLING IN PLANKTONIC FOOD WEBS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-96/081.
Description:
A mathematical model of carbon fluxes through the heterotrophic microbial food web is developed from a synthesis of laboratory and field research,The basis of the model is the segregation of organic carbon into lability classes that are defined by bioassay experiments. acteria, phytoplankton,nano-, micro- and mesosozooplankton and DOC and POC are modeled. he descriptions of bacterial growth and utilization of the various classes of substrate were treated as "universal constants" in the application of the model to three distinct ecosystems, ranging from oligotrophic to highly eutrophic. he successful application of the model to these diverse ecosystems supports the basic validity of the description of the microbial food web and the dynamics of carbon flux. nalysis of the ecosystems through the use of the model indicates that bacterial assemblages are primarily controlled by the availability of substrate. n addition, although the bacteria use much of the primary produced carbon that enters the non-living carbon pools and recycle a significant fraction of it back to the food web, this carbon has little impact on productivity at the mesozooplankton trophic level.