Publication
Kempes, C.P., S. Dutkiewicz, and M.J. Follows (2012), Growth, metabolic partitioning, and the size of microorganisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 109, 495-500, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1115585109
Tag Archives: Dutkiewicz
The Darwin Project goes to the Museum
When San Francisco’s Exploratorium moves into its new building on the waterfront next year, it promises to use technologies in ways never before seen in a museum. One of those experiences will be an interactive ocean, the product of a collaboration between scientists at UC Davis and MIT’s Darwin Project. Read more
Power in Modeling Virtual Marine Microbes
In this article, featured in the July issue of Microbe magazine, Darwin Project researcher Stephanie Dutkiewicz explains how, when used properly, models provide valuable insights into complex systems and sometimes yield surprising, even counterintuitive outcomes.
Publication
Prowe, A. E. F., M. Pahlow, S. Dutkiewicz, M. Follows, and A. Oschlies (2012), Top-down control of marine phytoplankton diversity in a global ecosystem model, Progr. Oceanogr., doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2011.11.016
Publication
Dutkiewicz, S. (2012), Power in Modeling Virtual Marine Microbes, Microbes magazine, 7, 314-319, LINK
Publication
Ward, B.A., S. Dutkiewicz, O. Jahn, and M.J. Follows (2012), A size structured food-web model for the global ocean: Linking physiology, ecology and biogeography, Limnology and Oceanography, 57, 1877-1891, doi: 10.4319/lo.2012.57.6.1877
Publication
Dutkiewicz, S., B. A. Ward, F. Monteiro, and M. J. Follows (2012), Interconnection of nitrogen fixers and iron in the Pacific Ocean: Theory and numerical simulations, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 26, GB1012, doi: 10.1029/2011GB004039
Microbe Metabolism
Population growth rate is a fundamental ecological and evolutionary characteristic of living organisms, but individuals must balance the metabolism devoted to biosynthesis and reproduction against the maintenance of existing structure and other functionality. Chris Kempes, Stephanie Dutkiewicz and Mick Follows have developed a mathematical model relating metabolic partitioning to the form of growth. The research is published in the Dec. 26 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Ecology of nitrogen fixers in the Pacific Ocean
Nitrogen is an essential component of all cells. It is used to make the amino acid building blocks of proteins, and is also required in the nucleic acids of DNA and RNA. Although nitrogen extremely abundant in the open ocean, it is mostly found in dissolved N2 molecules that cannot be used by most phytoplankton, who require nitrogen in its reduced, or “fixed” forms, such as nitrate or ammonium.
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Biophysical Aspects of Resource Acquisition and Competition in Algal Mixotrophs
Mixotrophic organisms combine autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition and are abundant in both freshwater and marine environments. Recent observations indicate that mixotrophs constitute a large fraction of the biomass, bacterivory, and primary production in oligotrophic environments. While mixotrophy allows greater flexibility in terms of resource acquisition, any advantage must be traded off against an associated increase in metabolic costs, which appear to make mixotrophs uncompetitive relative to obligate autotrophs and heterotrophs.
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