Diversity effects of trait-based zooplankton feeding interactions in a global ecosystem model
Title
Diversity effects of trait-based zooplankton feeding interactions in a global ecosystem model
General information
A continuing loss of diversity observed across ecosystems raises the question of how diversity influences ecological and biogeochemical processes in the pelagic ocean. Global biogeochemical models are being used to examine interactions between diversity and biogeochemical cycles, but focus on more or less detailed descriptions and simulated distributions of phytoplankton. However, in such models feeding interactions by zooplankton can substantially affect plankton diversity and community structure, and thereby ocean ecosystem functions like primary production and the export of organic matter to the deep ocean. Feeding interactions in these models are typically characterized by oversimplified, static interactions and prescribed trophic links between zooplankton and phytoplankton functional groups. Such rigid feeding formulations may hinder the models' ability to capture reactions of the plankton community to biotic and abiotic changes. In contrast, alternative modelling techniques allowing more plasticity, such as optimality-based or adaptive dynamics models, are better suited to resolve diversity effects and may increase the models' potential to respond to environmental changes as, for example, expected in a future climate. However, such modelling techniques have yet to be employed on the global scale. In this project we want to examine the role of plankton traits and ecology, in particular diversity and community structure, in global biogeochemical cycles by incorporating flexible feeding interactions into a state-of-the-art global biogeochemistry-ecology-circulation model. We will extrapolate process models obtained from the literature and, in a later stage, available from Dynatrait developed for individual settings, experiments, or locations to the global scale. This upscaling will allow us to evaluate effects of trait plasticity and variation on large-scale diversity patterns under different environmental conditions imposing both temporal and geographical constraints. Specific research questions within this approach are: 1. How do flexible trophic interactions affect simulated regional and global patterns of plankton diversity and community structure compared to traditional rigid formulations? 2. How does zooplankton diversity (not previously considered in global models) affect the simulated plankton community dynamics, diversity and ecosystem functioning? 3. How do simulated future environmental changes influence the community dynamics and the relationship between diversity and large-scale ecosystem functions?
Start
November, 2014
End
October, 2017
Funding (total)
-
Funding (GEOMAR)
117000
Funding body / Programme
-
DFG
/ Priority Programme (SPP)
Coordination
null
Contact
