Optimality-based model of marine zooplankton communities

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The fixation of CO2 into organic matter in the surface ocean and its subsequent remineralisation, export to the deep sea, or transfer to higher trophic levels is determined by the interplay of primary (phytoplankton) and secondary (bacteria, zooplankton, etc.) producers in marine plankton systems. While the roles of various phytoplankton groups in the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and several macro- and micronutrients have been elucidated to some detail, far less is known about development, distribution, and functioning of different zooplankton communities throughout the world ocean. Zooplankton ingestion is commonly described by sigmoidal functions of food density, which can describe some but certainly not most kinds of zooplankton. The recently introduced size-spectral formulations allow refined treatment of different trophic levels but remain confined to only slight variations in the feeding models associated with different zooplankton groups. This project aims at a description of functional zooplankton community structure reflecting evolution towards optimal resource utilisation at each trophic level. Optimality- and metabolism-based modelling will require identification of trade-offs among different aspects of zooplankton feeding behaviour. The recently developed methodology of adaptive modelling will be used to integrate different feeding strategies into a zooplankton model simple enough for use in global biogeochemical models.