Effects of depth and evolving rate on phytoplankton growth in a periodically evolving environment

TL;DR

This paper investigates how depth, diffusion, and seasonal water column changes affect phytoplankton growth, revealing that higher rates and depths hinder survival through theoretical analysis and simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking phytoplankton dynamics to environmental factors like depth and evolving water column, deriving thresholds for survival.

Findings

Higher evolving rate reduces phytoplankton survival.

Increased vertical diffusion rate hampers phytoplankton growth.

Greater water column depth adversely affects phytoplankton survival.

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a single phytoplankton species which relies on the light for maintaining the metabolism of life in a periodically evolving environment, where the light intensity and the death rate depend on the water column depth triggered by seasonal variation. Based on the basic reproduction number $\mathcal{R}_0$, a threshold type result on the dynamics of the model is established. Especially, various features of $\mathcal{R}_0$ with respect to the vertical turbulent diffusion rate, the buoyant or sinking rate, and the evolving rate of water column depth are derived. Our theoretical results and numerical simulations show that big evolving rate, vertical diffusion rate and water column depth all have an adverse effect on survival of phytoplankton.