海洋浮游生物在全球尺度上改变大气与海洋之间的碳通量、光通量和热通量。浮游生物群落的粒径结构对于海洋生态动力过程和“生物泵”都有非常重要的调控作用，影响了主要元素的生物地球化学循环。粒径分级捕食过程是浮游生物群落的一个重要特征，是静态和动态海洋食物网之间的重要联系纽带。本研究拟构建一个适合南海北部浮游生态系统的连续粒径分级生态动力模型，并通过浮游生物粒径结构的现场观测和遥感观测、以及粒径分级浮游植物生长和死亡率观测对粒径分级生态模型进行参数化。拟通过一维物理模型与粒径分级生态模型的耦合，探讨南海北部典型区域浮游生物粒径分布对物理强迫和气候变化的响应机制，阐明浮游生物粒径结构时空分布的控制机理，揭示浮游生物粒径结构变化对南海生态系统动力学和碳循环的影响。

The fluxes of carbon, photon, and heat through the air-sea interfaces are largely influenced by marine phytoplankton on global scale. Size-structure of phytoplankton community plays an essential role in regulating marine ecosystem dynamics and the ‘biological pump’, that controls the biogeochemical cycling of major elements in the ocean. Size-fractionate grazing, a key characteristics of planktonic community, is the major connection between stable and dynamic marine food webs. This study intends to develop a continuous size-structure model of planktonic ecosystem for the northern South China Sea. The model will be parameterized by field measurements including plankton size spectrum and remote-sensed phytoplankton size-structure, as well as the size-fractionate phytoplankton growth and grazing rates via dilution techniques. By coupling of the size-structure ecosystem model with the one-dimensional physical model, we hope to investigate the change of plankton size-structure in response to physical forcing and climate change. Our goals are to explore the mechanisms controlling spatial and temporal variations of plankton size distributions and to understand the impact of varying plankton-size-structure on ecosystem dynamics and carbon cycle of the northern South China Sea.