Cycles, phase synchronization, and entrainment in single-species phytoplankton populations.

ABSTRACT: Complex dynamics, such as population cycles, can arise when the individual members of a population become synchronized. However, it is an open question how readily and through which mechanisms synchronization-driven cycles can occur in unstructured microbial populations. In experimental chemostats we studied large populations (>10(9) cells) of unicellular phytoplankton that displayed regular, inducible and reproducible population oscillations. Measurements of cell size distributions revealed that progression through the mitotic cycle was synchronized with the population cycles. A mathematical model that accounts for both the cell cycle and population-level processes suggests that cycles occur because individual cells become synchronized by interacting with one another through their common

SUBMITTER: Massie TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2840115 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature