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The clearance rate of microzooplankton as the key element for describing estimated non-linear dilution plots demonstrated by a model

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine whether the clearance rate of grazers (as an individual response) was sensitive enough to describe non-linear plots estimated by dilution experiments for measuring the instant grazing rate of microzooplankton. The study was based on an initial analysis of a non-linear feeding pattern based on the food concentration dependence of clearance rate of microzooplankton. In contrast to the traditional assumption of a linear functional response, I assumed that the microzooplankton functional response was non-linear and that the dependence of the clearance rate can be sub-divided into four intervals of food concentration (Sections I–IV) as follows: in Section I clearance rate is zero; Section II is a transitional interval in which the clearance rate increases from zero to a maximum value; in Section III, the clearance rate is maximal and constant, and in Section IV, the clearance rate decreases from its maximum value due to saturated ingestion rate. A set of derived differential equations describes the phytoplankton growth rate in each section, leading to the possibility of comparing predicted non-linear dilution plots with observed non-linear dilution data, using only the specific solutions for Sections III and IV. One should evaluate the quality of fit provided by the non-linear and linear models, rather than uncritically accepting only the linear model for observed non-linear dilution data, using calculated expected non-linear and linear dilution plots as alternative hypotheses. It can be demonstrated that the non-linear model provided a better fit to estimated non-linear dilution data from the Red Sea, Rhode River Estuary (USA) and Kiel Fjord (Germany) than the standard linear model. Published dilution experiments which had a non-linear shape were also selected as illustrative examples to demonstrate the superior fit of the non-linear model.

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Acknowledgements

The study in the Red Sea was funded by the German “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft” (DFG - Le 232/16), and the dilution experiments made in the Rhode River Estuary were funded by the Office of Grants and Fellowships of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC (USA). I would like to express my thanks to Dr. Charles Gallegos (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center) and his crew for making it possible to carry out the dilution experiments which were made in the Rhode River Estuary (USA), and to Dr. Klaus Gocke (Leibniz-Instituts fuer Meereswissenschaften, Kiel) for making it possible to carry out the dilution experiment made in Kiel Fjord (Germany). Technical support was provided in the U.S. laboratory by Sharyn Hedrick, Sam Benson and Karen Yee, and in the German laboratory by Peter Fritsche. I would also like to thank Eng. Uwe Rabsch (Isotope Laboratory of the Leibniz-Instituts fuer Meereswissenschaften in Kiel) and Dr. Horst Weikert (Institut fuer Hydrobiologie at the university in Hamburg, Germany) for the support the rendered to me in Kiel. My thanks also go to Prof. Dr. Juergen Lenz (Leibniz-Instituts fuer Meereswissenschaften, Kiel) for supporting the study made on the Red Sea and for his useful comments given in an earlier version of this manuscript, and to the crew of the F.S. Meteor for their assistance in the study made on the Red Sea. Last but not the least, I would like to thank all the anonymous reviewers and Prof. Michael Landry for their constructive and interesting comments and suggestions, and also for helping me improve the English language of the manuscript. The dilution experiments made by the author comply with the current laws of USA and Germany.

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  1. Algird-Gordon Moigis

    Present address: , Ulmenstr. 73, 24306, Ploen, Germany

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  1. Leibniz-Instituts fuer Meereswissenschaften, Duesternbrooker Weg 20, 24103, Kiel, Germany

    Algird-Gordon Moigis

  2. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, P.O. Box 28, Edgewater, MD, 21037, USA

    Algird-Gordon Moigis

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  1. Algird-Gordon Moigis
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Correspondence to Algird-Gordon Moigis.

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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe

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Moigis, AG. The clearance rate of microzooplankton as the key element for describing estimated non-linear dilution plots demonstrated by a model. Mar Biol 149, 743–762 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-005-0202-3

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