Time lag and co-operativity in the transient growth dynamics of microalgae.

The growth of single-nutrient limited algal cultures has been independentlydescribed by several authors in terms of the same basic mathematical model. This paper carries out a stability analysis of the Caperon-Droop formulation of the model, and shows that it is overdamped in transient behaviour. It also explores the effect of modifying the hyperbolic growth function of this model by incorporating discrete and distributed time lag and co-operativity effects. The results of these modifications are considered in the light of experimental observations on Chlamydomonas populations, which are known to exhibit transient oscillations in continuous culture.

[1]  J. Giddings.  Chemical composition and productivity of Scenedesmus abundans in nitrogen limited chemostat cultures1 , 1977 .

[2]  A. Davies.  Iron, Chelation and the Growth of Marine Phytoplankton I. Growth Kinetics and Chlorophyll Production in Cultures of the Euryhaline Flagellate Dunalliela Tertiolecta under Iron-Limiting Conditions , 1970, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[3]  E. Carpenter,et al.  Intraspecific Differences in Nitrate Half‐Saturation Constants for Three Species of Marine Phytoplankton , 1971 .

[4]  E. Paasche.  Silicon and the ecology of marine plankton diatoms. I. Thalassiosira pseudonana (Cyclotella nana) grown in a chemostat with silicate as limiting nutrient , 1973 .

[5]  S. Pirt,et al.  The Effects of Cooperativity and Growth Yield Variation on the Kinetics of Nitrogen or Phosphate Limited Growth of Chlorella in a Chemostat Culture , 1978 .

[6]  W. Thomas,et al.  ON NITROGEN DEFICIENCY IN TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEANIC PHYTOPLANKTON. II. PHOTOSYNTHETIC AND CELLULAR CHARACTERISTICS OF A CHEMOSTAT‐GROWN DIATOM1 , 1972 .

[7]  P. Bienfang.  Steady state analysis of nitrate-ammonium assimilation by phytoplankton1,2 , 1975 .

[8]  M. R. Droop,et al.  Vitamin B12 and Marine Ecology. IV. The Kinetics of Uptake, Growth and Inhibition in Monochrysis Lutheri , 1968, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[9]  N. Nyholm.  Dynamics of phosphate limited algal growth: simulation of phosphate shocks. , 1978, Journal of theoretical biology.

[10]  F. M. Williams,et al.  A model of cell growth dynamics. , 1967, Journal of theoretical biology.

[11]  J. Caperon.  Population Growth Response of Isochrysis Galbana to Nitrate Variation at Limiting Concentrations , 1968 .

[12]  James J. McCarthy,et al.  HALF‐SATURATION CONSTANTS FOR UPTAKE OF NITRATE AND AMMONIUM BY MARINE PHYTOPLANKTON1 , 1969 .

[13]  G. W. Fuhs.  PHOSPHORUS CONTENT AND RATE OF GROWTH IN THE DIATOMS CYCLOTELLA NANA AND THALASSIOSIRA FLUVIATILIS , 1969, Journal of phycology.

[14]  Relaxation times in bacteriological culture and the approach to steady state. , 1973, Journal of theoretical biology.

[15]  P. Falkowski.  Nitrate uptake in marine phytoplankton: Comparison of half-saturation constants from seven species1 , 1975 .

[16]  C. Davis,et al.  Marine diatoms grown in chemostats under silicate or ammonium limitation. II. Transient response of Skeletonema costatum to a single addition of the limiting nutrient , 1976 .

[17]  M. R. Droop,et al.  The nutrient status of algal cells in continuous culture , 1974, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[18]  B. H. Ketchum.  THE ABSORPTION OF PHOSPHATE AND NITRATE BY ILLUMINATED CULTURES OF NITZSCHIA CLOSTERIUM , 1939 .

[19]  R. Eppley,et al.  UPTAKE OF NITRATE AND NITRITE BY DITYLUM BRIGHTWELLII‐KINETICS AND MECHANISMS 1 2 , 1968, Journal of phycology.

[20]  John Caperon,et al.  Time Lag in Population Growth Response of Isochrysis Galbana to a Variable Nitrate Environment , 1969 .

[21]  N. Macdonald,et al.  Time delay in simple chemostat models , 1976, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[22]  J. Lund.  THE ECOLOGY OF THE FRESHWATER PHYTOPLANKTON , 1965 .

[23]  P. Maas,et al.  Time Lag and Nutrient Storage Effects in the Transient Growth Response of Chlamydomonas reinhardii in Nitrogen-limited Batch and Continuous Culture , 1978 .