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- Title
Towards a more biologically realistic use of Droop's equations to model growth under multiple nutrient limitation.
- Authors
Cherif, Mehdi; Loreau, Michel
- Abstract
Droop's model was originally designed to describe the growth of unicellular phytoplankton species in chemostats but it is now commonly used for a variety of organisms in models of trophic interactions, ecosystem functioning, and evolution. Despite its ubiquitous use, Droop's model is still limited by several simplifying assumptions. For example, the assumption of equal theoretical maximum growth rates for all nutrients is commonly used to describe growth limited by multiple nutrients. This assumption, however, is both biologically unrealistic and potentially misleading. We propose the alternative hypothesis of equal realized maximum growth rates for all nutrients. We support our hypothesis with empirical and theoretical arguments and discuss how it may improve our understanding of the biology of growth, while avoiding some of the pitfalls of the previous assumption.
- Subjects
BIOLOGY education; UNICELLULAR organisms; PHYTOPLANKTON; CHEMOSTAT; PLANT nutrients; GROWTH rate; LIFE sciences; MICROBIOLOGICAL continuous culture equipment; MICROBIOLOGY education
- Publication
Oikos, 2010, Vol 119, Issue 6, p897
- ISSN
0030-1299
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18397.x