title: On a cell-growth model for plankton.
abstract: The frequency distribution of diatoms (microscopic unicellular alga with silicified cell-walls, found as plankton) is shown to evolve in time as a steady-size distribution with constant shape, scaled by time. This distribution is preserved when the division occurs at a fixed size into two daughter cells of half-size. In cases where the parameters for growth, division frequency, dispersion and mortality are constants, the frequency distributions can be found explicitly and thus provide a benchmark for computations in more complex cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. britta.basse@paradise.net.nz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Basse
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Wake
authors.forename: D J N
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van Brunt
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D010933:Plankton / Q000254:growth & development*