Collected reprints: Abstract 3420
Collected reprints
Abstract
Mommaerts, J.-P. (1982). The calculation of particulate primary production in a stratified body of water using a modification of the Vollenweider formula. Meteor Forsch.-Ergebnisse, Reihe D. 34: 1-8
A model which integrates particulate primary production over time (light-day) and depth (euphonic layer) was used extensively for calculations of the primary production results of the Fladen Ground Experiment (FLEX'76), and is described here in detail. The photosynthesis-light relationship occupies a central position in the computational scheme. The choice of an adequate relationship (here, a variant of the Vollenweider's (1965) expression), the properties of such a formula, and the relevant parameters are discussed in the paper. The proposed approach is useful whenever specific problems imply a reduction to elemental processes, as it was the case during the Fladen Ground Experiment. Thus, the difficulty of integrating primary production over a heterogeneous light field (depth and time) and a heterogeneous biomass field (depth) can be easily overcome. Also, comparability problems arising from differences in presentation of incubation results provided by various data originators can be minimized. The calculations for RV "Meteor", station 446, 23 May 1976, are given as an example, and the results of several simulation scenarios are compared. In the author's view, the calculation of primary production is here merely a side issue since the real goal of this approach is to work with parameters which have an ecological meaning. Only such parameters could be included in larger phytoplankton or ecosystem models.
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