Roy Shovonlal, Alam S, Chattopadhyay J
Agricultural and Ecological Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203 B. T. Road, Kolkata, 700108, India.
Bull Math Biol. 2006 Nov;68(8):2303-20. doi: 10.1007/s11538-006-9109-5. Epub 2006 Jun 28.
The coexistence of a large number of phytoplankton species on a seemingly limited variety of resources is a classical problem in ecology, known as 'the paradox of the plankton'. Strong fluctuations in species abundance due to the external factors or competitive interactions leading to oscillations, chaos and short-term equilibria have been cited so far to explain multi-species coexistence and biodiversity of phytoplankton. However, none of the explanations has been universally accepted. The qualitative view and statistical analysis of our field data establish two distinct roles of toxin-producing phytoplankton (TPP): toxin allelopathy weakens the interspecific competition among phytoplankton groups and the inhibition due to ingestion of toxic substances reduces the abundance of the grazer zooplankton. Structuring the overall plankton population as a combination of nontoxic phytoplankton (NTP), toxic phytoplankton, and zooplankton, here we offer a novel solution to the plankton paradox governed by the activity of TPP. We demonstrate our findings through qualitative analysis of our sample data followed by analysis of a mathematical model.
在看似有限的资源种类上存在大量浮游植物物种，这是生态学中的一个经典问题，即“浮游生物悖论”。到目前为止，由于外部因素或导致振荡、混沌和短期平衡的竞争相互作用，物种丰度的强烈波动已被引用来解释浮游植物的多物种共存和生物多样性。然而，没有一种解释得到普遍接受。我们对实地数据的定性观点和统计分析确定了产毒素浮游植物（TPP）的两个不同作用：毒素化感作用削弱了浮游植物群体之间的种间竞争，并且由于摄入有毒物质导致的抑制作用降低了食草浮游动物的丰度。将整个浮游生物群体构建为由无毒浮游植物（NTP）、有毒浮游植物和浮游动物组成的组合，在此我们针对由TPP活动支配的浮游生物悖论提供了一种新颖的解决方案。我们通过对样本数据进行定性分析，然后对一个数学模型进行分析来展示我们的研究结果。
