EELGRASS SHOOT MODEL
At the most basic level, eelgrass leaf production was first modeled to assess our understanding of leaf turnover rates and to evaluate the annual changes in leaf production that have been observed within our eelgrass mesocosms. Eelgrass mesocosm research, previously funded by NOAA/COP, has yielded detailed information on the physiology and ecology of eelgrass production and plant changes in response to environmental stress (SHORT ET AL. 1995). This first model investigated the dynamics of leaf growth rates, initiation of new leaf growth, and leaf plastachrone intervals used to determine leaf turnover. With this shoot growth model, the production of each new leaf is enumerated, and the initiation time of new leaf production is simulated. Results of this modeling effort demonstrate a seasonal cycle of eelgrass growth, production of new leaves, and extension of leaf lengths, rapidly during the beginning of the growing season and more slowly as the summer continues.
Major findings from this shoot growth modeling effort are that the eelgrass plastachrone interval is critical in determining both the annual timing of overall eelgrass production and the magnitude and extent of leaf elongation and shoot development. The model results clearly demonstrated that insufficient information currently exists in the seagrass literature to identify rates of new leaf initiation (plastachrone interval) throughout the year. Further investigations of eelgrass leaf growth at this fine level of detail will clearly require more fundamental growth data on the plants themselves. This is exactly the kind of finding that makes modeling so useful: it points to an information gap which can only be filled by more detailed work in mesocosms and the field.
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