PLANKTON FRACTIONATION BY SEQUENTIAL FILTRATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF BIODIVERSITY PYRAMIDS

Abstract

Lotka-Volterra predator-prey models are used to study community ecology, but their ability to generate ecological pyramids compared to field data has not been investigated in detail. In this paper, agent-based modeling (ABM) was used instead of systems of ordinary differential equations (ODE). It was shown that the two-component producer-consumer system is unstable, whereas the three-component system with consumers of the 1st and 2nd order is stable under prolonged simulation. Time slices as the program progresses can generate both ecological pyramids and cascades. Simulation results are consistent with experiments on separation of the Black Sea plankton from the area of Cape Fiolent (Crimea) into fractions ranging in size from 2 mm to 2 microns. Although biodiversity in individual samples at different points in time as well as abundance vary widely, both predictably decline with rising trophic levels in cases where the number of tests increases over time.