This is the new world ocean model
Until now, global ocean biogeochemical models have not been very concerned with studying the light cycle between day and night, even knowing how important sunlight is for phytoplankton, a crucial part of the food web.
Phytoplankton are thought to be the basis of all life on the planet, so it’s important to focus on how they are affected by sunlight, or the lack of it, in computer models, something that is changing.
Scientists at the Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL) have incorporated the cycle between day and night light in order to analyze its effects on phytoplankton, all with the aim of understanding how phytoplankton obtains its energy and helping to better understand the interactions of the rest of the global ocean food web.
They have simulated 15 different types of phytoplankton, exposed to natural cycles of light and dark over the ocean. Once the simulation was done, it was compared with a control simulation using the same phytoplankton model leaving the light period for 24 hours.
They found that one group of phytoplankton simulated small cells with high affinity for nutrients, while another group simulated large cells with a higher maximum growth rate but low affinity for nutrients. In this way they understood how some go inside to obtain more nutrients and then go up to carry out photosynthesis, while others store carbon during the day, to be able to use it at night.
This new model has found a link between daily cycles and nutrient concentrations, and they saw different behaviors depending on latitude.
The ultimate goal is to improve our understanding of how the ocean works, as this could help uncover possible solutions to climate change, among other things.
You can read the study at onlinelibrary.wiley.com.
