ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2022
Elongation enhances encounter rates between phytoplankton in turbulence.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Form and function in biological filaments: a physicist's review.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2025Review
- Aerosolization flux, bio-products, and dispersal capacities in the freshwater microalga Limnomonas gaiensis (Chlorophyceae).Communications biology · 2023Article
- Encounter rates prime interactions between microorganisms.Interface focus · 2023Review
- Formation and emergent dynamics of spatially organized microbial systems.Interface focus · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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Abstract
Phytoplankton come in a stunning variety of shapes but elongated morphologies dominate-typically 50% of species have aspect ratio above 5, and bloom-forming species often form chains whose aspect ratios can exceed 100. How elongation affects encounter rates between phytoplankton in turbulence has remained unknown, yet encounters control the formation of marine snow in the ocean. Here, we present simulations of encounters among elongated phytoplankton in turbulence, showing that encounter rates between neutrally buoyant elongated cells are up to 10-fold higher than for spherical cells and even higher when cells sink. Consequently, we predict that elongation can significantly speed up the formation of marine snow compared to spherical cells. This unexpectedly large effect of morphology in driving encounter rates among plankton provides a potential mechanistic explanation for the rapid clearance of many phytoplankton blooms.
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