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JOURNAL OF PLANKTON RESEARCH | VOLUME 9 | NUMBER 2 | PAGES 345-366 | 1987
© Oxford University Press

research-article

A simple model of the growth of phytoplankton populations in light/dark cycles

Daniel Vaulot1 and Sallie W. Chisholm2

Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory 48–425, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

2To whom requests for reprints should be sent

Received on February 1, 1986; accepted on November 1, 1986

Phytoplankton populations have been shown to be entrained by alternating periods of light and darkness in natural waters as well as in laboratory cultures. A simple model for the growth of such populations, as reflected by cell division, is presented here. The model takes as its structural unit the single cell, using Spudich and Sager's transition point hypothesis for the coupling between received light and cell cycle progression. A stochastic component is also included to account for cell-to-cell variability. The model predicts that the characteristics of cell division patterns in populations entrained by photocycles depends mainly on the position of the transition point within the cell cycle, rather than on the characteristics of the photocyclic regime. The model simulates successfully the major features of observed division patterns of several phytoplankton species. In addition, the model can be used to predict division patterns in high frequency photocycles and during transients induced by shifts in light regime. Under these conditions, the simulated patterns are also consistent with the hypothesis of a circadian clock controlled cell cycle, except in the case of free running transients.

1Present address: Station Biologique Roscoff, CNRS, Roscoff 29211, France


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[Abstract] [Full Text]


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