Abstract
A random walk stimulation model was developed to explore the effects of variations in light regimes due to vertical mixing on primary productivity. Cells were allowed to light-shade adapt on some time scale by altering chl:carbon ratios in response to variations in light regimes. Photosynthetic response was adjusted according to variations in chl: carbon ratios by either varying the initial slopes of photosynthesis-irradiance curves, or varying photosynthetic capacities. The model suggests that despite physiological adaptation to light, vertical mixing may have little effect on the integrated water column primary productivity. It is suggested that if photoinhibition does not have a pronounced effect, the average distribution of primary production in a water column is not related to variations in light regimes arising from turbulent diffusion processes.
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This research was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-ACO2-76CH00016 and partially supported by the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE), NSF, as part of the Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems Analysis (CUEA) program.
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Falkowski, P.G., Wirick, C.D. A simulation model of the effects of vertical mixing on primary productivity. Marine Biology 65, 69–75 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397069
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397069