Effect of varying temperature in the reaction-diffusion equation of the phytoplankton- zooplankton system.

Date

4-2010

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Hannah Rissah E. Forio

Co-adviser

Darwin B. Putungan

Abstract

This study aims to extend the reaction-diffusion equation of the phytoplankton-zooplankton system by incorporating temperature in the equation and to study the effect of varying temperature on the system. The temperature functions for the phytoplankton and zooplankton were taken from the works of Eppley (1972) and Sinerchia, Vallerga and Woods (2008), respectively. These temperature functions were incorporated in the corresponding abundance term of the species. A graphical user interface program for the model was created in MATLAB and was run for different sets of input parameters and initial data functions. Computer simulations at different temperatures were obtained. It was observed that the abundance of both phytoplankton and zooplankton decreases as the temperature is increased. From the simulations, the interaction and the distribution of the species in space were also affected by temperature. Results showed that the species vanished at temperatures equal to or greater than 45°C. This result corresponded to a similar characteristic exhibited by protists which die at temperature approaching 45°C.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

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