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JPR Advance Access published online on February 22, 2006
Journal of Plankton Research, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbi144
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received December 12, 2005
Accepted February 17, 2006

Article

A multi-nutrient model for the description of stoichiometric modulation of predation (SMP) in micro- and mesozooplankton

Aditee Mitra 1 *

1 Institute of Environmental Sustainability, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, U.K.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Aditee Mitra, E-mail: aditee_m{at}yahoo.com


  Abstract

Changes in predator behaviour when confronted with prey of disadvantageous composition have been termed Stoichiometric Modulation of Predation (SMP; Mitra and Flynn, 2005; J. Plankton Res. 27, 393-399). Through SMP a predator may compensate for (+ve SMP) or compound (-ve SMP) dietary deficiencies. While these responses are documented in experiments, albeit typically with poor parameterisation, previous zooplankton models contain no explicit description of these events. A new multi-nutrient biomass-based generic zooplankton model is described, capable of handling SMP at the levels of ingestion and assimilation, for exploration of zooplankton growth dynamics in situations where prey quality and quantity changes over time. SMP is enabled by configuring ingestion rate and assimilation efficiency descriptors as functions of food quality (indexed here to prey N:C). Sensitivity analysis of the new model shows the structure to be robust against variation in parameter (constant) values. The form of the model enables its use in population dynamic studies of different zooplankton groups; here the model has been configured to represent microzooplankton and mesozooplankton. It is shown that in the absence of inclusion of SMP, fits of the model to experimental data can be poor with potential for significant misrepresentation of trophic dynamics.

Communicating Editor: R.P. Harris


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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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