09)¶

Ecosystem model with self-assembling communities¶

Becking’s hypothesis:

“Everything is everywhere but the environment selects.”
Governing principle for ocean model: combine genetics and physiology with the physical and chemical environment over which fitness and selection occur determining the ecosystem structure and function
Populate the model with a large variety of microbes with different physiological properties chosen randomly
The large-scale pattern of nutrients avoid the system to shift from one equilibrum to another equilibrium
Biodiversity: About 20 phytoplankton types dominate the biomass and there are many types with very low abundance
The spatial structure of some synthetic phytoplankton types fit observed phytoplankton types

Plateau of diversity falling poleward, due to the large seasonal cycle (Stewart and Levin 1973; Tilman 1977; Falkowski and Oliver 2007)
In the subtropics, stable environment, different types but with same efficiency (found also in laboratory studies)
High diversity correlated with highly energetic areas (e.g., western boundary currents): “war adapted” phenotypes advected within the warm waters of the Gulf Stream contribute to diversity at mid-latitude as much as “cold adapted” phenottypes.
Hot spots off tropical eastern boundary currents and along the equator. Due to upwelling?