Abstract:
Chilika Lagoon (19°28'N and 19°54'N and 85°06'E and 85°36'E) is the largest brackish water lagoon with estuarine character. The present study is aimed at studying the seasonal variability of plankton in Chilika through a four-compartment ecological model. This model is solved for different sectors of the lagoon. Numerical experiments with different parameters showed that the main parameter affecting the phytoplankton population is the growth rate, which is expressed as a product of functions of terms affecting the growth of phytoplankton i.e., temperature, light and nutrients. The relative importance of all these individual factors was examined through numerical experiments. It was found that time of phytoplankton bloom was more dependent upon the parameter values within the growth rate term. The model results have been validated against the data and were found to be in good agreement.
