The Continuous Culture of Phytoplankton: Mathematical Equivalence Among Three Steady-State Models

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Abstract
Within a framework of 3-state variables and the corresponding differential conservation equations, 3 alternative models of phytoplankton growth in a steady-state continuous culture are formulated, based on commonly accepted uptake and growth functions. Simple algebraic analysis of the 3 models strictly equivalent, making them merely 3 (of many) minimal representations of one underlying metamodel. As sometimes implied, each of the 3 models is an equally valid (or equally invalid) formal description of algal growth at steady state. Experimental results from chemostats are not, in principle, applicable to dynamic conditions; nor do they make a distinction between internal and external nutrient pools as the growth determinant.