Model fit versus biological relevance: Evaluating photosynthesis-temperature models for three tropical seagrass species.

ABSTRACT: When several models can describe a biological process, the equation that best fits the data is typically considered the best. However, models are most useful when they also possess biologically-meaningful parameters. In particular, model parameters should be stable, physically interpretable, and transferable to other contexts, e.g. for direct indication of system state, or usage in other model types. As an example of implementing these recommended requirements for model parameters, we evaluated twelve published empirical models for temperature-dependent tropical seagrass photosynthesis, based on two criteria: (1) goodness of fit, and (2) how easily biologically-meaningful parameters can be obtained. All models were formulated in terms of parameters characterising the thermal optimum (T

SUBMITTER: Adams MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5209739 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature