Plankton form the foundation of aquatic food webs, driving primary production, carbon sequestration and supporting fisheries on a global scale. Depending on environmental conditions, the biodiversity within plankton communities either support aquatic food-webs or disrupt these, for example through development of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). HABs can lead to further environmental damage such as deoxygenation and death of fish.
Understanding how aquatic food webs function, the dynamics of HABs, and their interactions with changing abiotic conditions (weather, climate, eutrophication) is challenging. Addressing these require simulation models that provide appropriate, robust and faithful descriptions of plankton types and their ecologies. Attaining these goals are central to our ethos.
We have unique expertise, backed by 50 person years of research, in development and deployment of system dynamics cybernetic plankton models, from viruses, bacteria, phytoplankton, mixoplankton, protist zooplankton through to metazoan zooplankton.
In addition, over the last decade, our research has led to the emergence of a new mixoplankton paradigm in marine ecology. Mixoplankton are single-celled organisms that photosynthesize and consume prey. The mixoplankton paradigm overturns the traditional plant-animal based aquatic food web structure which forms the bedrock of aquatic ecology, oceanography, and modelling thereof.
All our simulation models are supported by extensive expertise in empirical plankton research. In addition to research papers and book chapters, our products include manuals and guides for plankton fieldwork and laboratory culture work, reports, and digital twins. As key drivers in the mixoplankton paradigm, our plankton simulation models are also the only ones that provide descriptions across the breadth of plankton functional types.
Our products are designed for stakeholders in R&D as well as policy and management.
Research & Development
Simulation models provide a means to consolidate information, to help generate and test working hypotheses. Our models have a unique structure {link to system dynamics page}, providing an unparalleled ability to describe facets of trait expression contributing to biodiversity. These have wide applicability in laboratory and field-based research on plankton ecology, including to Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs).
We develop bespoke standalone simulators and make contributions to integrative projects where our model code is embedded in 3D simulators (such as FVCOM).
Policy and Management
Open water aquatic ecosystems are complex. At their heart are plankton food webs with multitude of non-linear interactions both between organisms and with the abiotic environment (light, nutrients, temperature, salinity, pH etc.). Effective management of resources and informing policy are aided by effective communication tools. Our products are designed to provide managers and allied scientists with such tools. Our simulators enable explorations of implications of multi-stressor conditions on plankton ecology, and conducting investigations by asking ‘what-if’ questions. We have developed products for public use as means to communicate ecologically complex information (e.g., the red Noctiluca simulator versus the Sea Sparkle simulator).
