Centre for Ecological Research, Danube Research Institute, Department of Tisza Research, 18/c Bem square, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary.
Hrvatske vode, Central Water Management Laboratory, Ulica grada Vukovara 220, Hr-10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 15;773:145538. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145538. Epub 2021 Feb 3.
Morphology and spatial dimensions of microalgal units (cells or colonies) are among the most relevant traits of planktic algae, which have a pronounced impact on their basic functional properties, like access to nutrients or light, the velocity of sinking or tolerance to grazing. Although the shape of algae can be approximated by geometric forms and thus, their volume and surface area can be calculated, this approach cannot be validated and might have uncertainties especially in the case of complicated forms. In this study, we report on a novel approach that uses real-like 3D mesh objects to visualize microalgae and calculates their volume and surface area. Knowing these dimensions and their intraspecific variabilities, we calculated specific shape and surface area constants for more than 300 forms, covering more than two thousand taxa. Using these constants, the accurate volume and surface area can be quickly computed for each taxon and having these values, morphology-related metrics like surface area/volume ratio, the diameter of spherical equivalent can also be given quickly and accurately. Besides their practical importance, the volume and surface area constants can be considered as size-independent morphological traits that are characteristic for the microalgal shapes, and provide new possibilities of data analyses in the field of phytoplankton ecology.
微藻单元（细胞或群体）的形态和空间维度是浮游藻类最重要的特征之一，这些特征对其基本功能特性有显著影响，例如获取营养物质或光的能力、下沉速度或对摄食的耐受能力。尽管藻类的形状可以用几何形状来近似，从而可以计算其体积和表面积，但这种方法无法验证，并且可能存在不确定性，特别是在复杂形状的情况下。在这项研究中，我们报告了一种新方法，该方法使用逼真的 3D 网格物体来可视化微藻并计算其体积和表面积。了解这些尺寸及其种内变异性后，我们计算了 300 多种形状的特定形状和表面积常数，涵盖了两千多种分类单元。使用这些常数，可以快速计算每个分类单元的准确体积和表面积，并且有了这些值，还可以快速准确地给出与形态相关的度量，如表面积/体积比、球体等效直径。除了实际重要性外，体积和表面积常数还可以被视为与尺寸无关的形态特征，这些特征是微藻形状的特征，并为浮游植物生态学领域的数据分析提供了新的可能性。
