IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-56794-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Emergent patterns of patchiness differ between physical and planktonic properties in the ocean

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick Clifton Gray

    (University of Maine
    University of Haifa)

  • Emmanuel Boss

    (University of Maine)

  • Guillaume Bourdin

    (University of Maine)

  • Yoav Lehahn

    (University of Haifa)

Abstract

While a rich history of patchiness research has explored spatial structure in the ocean, there is no consensus over the controls on biological patchiness and how physical-ecological-biogeochemical processes and patchiness relate. The prevailing thought is that physics structures biology, but this has not been tested at basin scale with consistent in situ measurements. Here we use the slope of the relationship between variance vs spatial scale to quantify patchiness and ~650,000 nearly continuous (dx ~ 200 m) measurements - representing the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans - and find that patchiness of biological parameters and physical parameters are uncorrelated. We show variance slope is an emergent property with unique patterns in biogeochemical properties distinct from physical tracers, yet correlated with other biological tracers. These results provide context for decades of observations with different interpretations, suggest the use of spatial tests of biogeochemical model parameterizations, and open the way for studies into processes regulating the observed patterns.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Clifton Gray & Emmanuel Boss & Guillaume Bourdin & Yoav Lehahn, 2025. "Emergent patterns of patchiness differ between physical and planktonic properties in the ocean," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-56794-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56794-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56794-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-56794-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoav Lehahn & Ilan Koren & Shlomit Sharoni & Francesco d’Ovidio & Assaf Vardi & Emmanuel Boss, 2017. "Dispersion/dilution enhances phytoplankton blooms in low-nutrient waters," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-8, April.
    2. Vitul Agarwal & Jonathan Chávez-Casillas & Keisuke Inomura & Colleen B. Mouw, 2024. "Patterns in the temporal complexity of global chlorophyll concentration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Marina Lévy & Peter J. S. Franks & K. Shafer Smith, 2018. "The role of submesoscale currents in structuring marine ecosystems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Edward R. Abraham, 1998. "The generation of plankton patchiness by turbulent stirring," Nature, Nature, vol. 391(6667), pages 577-580, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Enrico Ser-Giacomi & Ricardo Martinez-Garcia & Stephanie Dutkiewicz & Michael J. Follows, 2023. "A Lagrangian model for drifting ecosystems reveals heterogeneity-driven enhancement of marine plankton blooms," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Huang, Tousheng & Yu, Chengfeng & Zhang, Kui & Liu, Xingyu & Zhen, Jiulong & Wang, Lan, 2023. "Complex pattern dynamics and synchronization in a coupled spatiotemporal plankton system with zooplankton vertical migration," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 175(P2).
    3. Suresh, R. & Senthilkumar, D.V. & Lakshmanan, M. & Kurths, J., 2016. "Emergence of a common generalized synchronization manifold in network motifs of structurally different time-delay systems," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 235-245.
    4. Aulicino, Giuseppe & Cesarano, Cinzia & Zerrouki, Mohamed & Ruiz, Simon & Budillon, Giorgio & Cotroneo, Yuri, 2021. "On the use of ABACUS high resolution glider observations for the assessment of phytoplankton ocean biomass from CMEMS model products," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 455(C).
    5. Wang, Ching-Hao & Matin, Sakib & George, Ashish B. & Korolev, Kirill S., 2019. "Pinned, locked, pushed, and pulled traveling waves in structured environments," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 102-119.
    6. Das, Tanaya & Chakraborti, Saranya & Mukherjee, Joydeep & Sen, Goutam Kumar, 2018. "Mathematical modelling for phytoplankton distribution in Sundarbans Estuarine System, India," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 368(C), pages 111-120.
    7. Evgeniya Giricheva, 2024. "Taxis-Driven Pattern Formation in Tri-Trophic Food Chain Model with Omnivory," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.
    8. Della Rossa, Fabio & Fasani, Stefano & Rinaldi, Sergio, 2013. "Conditions for patchiness in plankton models," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 95-100.
    9. Vilar, J.M.G. & Solé, R.V. & Rubı́, J.M., 2003. "On the origin of plankton patchiness," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 317(1), pages 239-246.
    10. Bengfort, Michael & Malchow, Horst, 2016. "Vertical mixing and hysteresis in the competition of buoyant and non-buoyant plankton prey species in a shallow lake," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 323(C), pages 51-60.
    11. Xiaolong Yu & Roy Barkan & Alberto C. Naveira Garabato, 2024. "Intensification of submesoscale frontogenesis and forward energy cascade driven by upper-ocean convergent flows," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Serizawa, H. & Amemiya, T. & Itoh, K., 2009. "Patchiness and bistability in the comprehensive cyanobacterial model (CCM)," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(6), pages 764-773.
    13. Han, Yue & Zhou, Yuntao, 2022. "Investigating biophysical control of marine phytoplankton dynamics via Bayesian mechanistic modeling," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 474(C).
    14. Joydev Chattopadhyay & Ezio Venturino & Samrat Chatterjee, 2013. "Aggregation of toxin-producing phytoplankton acts as a defence mechanism – a model-based study," Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 159-174, April.
    15. Ghorai, Santu & Chakraborty, Bhaskar & Bairagi, Nandadulal, 2021. "Preferential selection of zooplankton and emergence of spatiotemporal patterns in plankton population," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 153(P1).
    16. Mingxian Guo & Xiaogang Xing & Peng Xiu & Giorgio Dall’Olmo & Weifang Chen & Fei Chai, 2024. "Efficient biological carbon export to the mesopelagic ocean induced by submesoscale fronts," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Upadhyay, Ranjit Kumar & Kumari, Nitu & Rai, Vikas, 2009. "Wave of chaos in a diffusive system: Generating realistic patterns of patchiness in plankton–fish dynamics," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 262-276.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-56794-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.