A model system approach to biological climate forcing;
the example of Emiliania huxleyi
Kooijman, S.A.L.M., Zonneveld, C. and Westbroek, P. 1998.
A model system approach to biological climate forcing;
the example of Emiliania huxleyi.
Technical Report:
Research Programme on Global Air Pollution and climate change
Abstract
Biological climate forcing is important, but the huge diversity of
organisms severely complicates a system's approach to global climate
dynamics. The Global Emiliania Modelling Initiative (GEM) provides
the strategy and infrastructure which is needed to overcome this
problem, at least in so far as the pelagic ocean biota is
concerned. GEM conducts an in-depth experimental and modelling study
of a single representative organism, the calcifying alga
Emiliania huxleyi, relating the cellular organisation of this
phytoplankter to its ecology and to the fate of its products (Ca
CO3, organic carbon, and DMS). To make the resulting
models more generally applicable, little additional experimentation
and minor alterations in model structure are required. Here, we
address the central problem of GEM -- to establish a model of the
E. huxleyi cell, defining how environmental factors affect
the production of the climatically relevant products. An interactive
experimental and modelling approach has been chosen, using chemostat
cultures under carefully controlled conditions (nutrients, light and
temperature). Molecular genetical analysis should provide an
in-depth understanding of metabolic key processes.