View article

The spatio-temporal behaviour of total chlorophyll concentration is investigated in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea by using a stochastic approach. The study is based on a reaction–diffusion–taxis model, which is used to analyse the dynamics of five phytoplankton groups, responsible for about 80% of the total chlorophyll a inside the euphotic zone of the water column. The analysis is performed by considering:(i) the intraspecific competition of the phytoplanktonic groups for limiting factors, ie light intensity and nutrient concentration,(ii) the seasonal changes of environmental variables, and (iii) the random fluctuations of the components of the velocity field and temperature. Specifically, we investigate the effects of external perturbations, both deterministic and random, on the dynamics of phytoplankton populations, by inserting a term of multiplicative noise into the differential equation of the nutrient dynamics. The …