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Calculate phytoplankton abundance spectrum from chlorophyll data

Source: R/utils.R
calculatePhytoParam.Rd

Converts chlorophyll concentration data to phytoplankton size spectrum parameters (slope, intercept, maximum size) using established oceanographic relationships.

Usage

calculatePhytoParam(dat)

Arguments

dat

Data frame containing chlorophyll data (chl column in mg/m^3) and optionally phytoplankton biomass (phy column in g/m^3)

Value

Data frame with added columns:

  • phyto_slope: Power law slope for phytoplankton size spectrum

  • phyto_int: Log10 intercept for phytoplankton abundance

  • phyto_max: Maximum phytoplankton size (log10 grams)

  • pico_biom, nano_biom, micro_biom: Biomass in each size class

Details

Calculate Phytoplankton Size Spectrum Parameters

This function implements the Brewin et al. (2015) algorithm to partition chlorophyll among picophytoplankton, nanophytoplankton, and microphytoplankton size classes, then calculates:

  • Size spectrum slope and intercept parameters

  • Maximum phytoplankton size based on micro proportion

  • Biomass estimates for each size class

These parameters drive the dynamic phytoplankton spectrum in ZooMSS that serves as the base of the food web. The function can work with either chlorophyll-only data (using empirical relationships) or direct phytoplankton biomass measurements.

References

Brewin, R.J.W., et al. (2015). A three-component model of phytoplankton size class for the Atlantic Ocean. Ecological Modelling, 306, 90-101.

Maranon, E., et al. (2014). Resource supply overrides temperature as a controlling factor of marine phytoplankton growth. PLoS ONE, 9(6), e99312.