Kinetic characteristics of the theoretical ecosystems with different extent of openness Original Research Article

In this paper, the influence of the extent of openness of ecosystem that is defined by the dilution rate, which characterizes the extent of flowage of the pond, on the intensity of the biotic circulation in ecosystems with different regulation types, number of trophic links and extent of closing has been investigated. We considered open systems, we took into account the return of the limiting substances, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, into the cycle by degradation of detritus and products of vital functions of consumers. It was shown by the numerical calculations that the increase of the dilution rate in without recycle ecosystems leads to increase of the net primary production up to the maximum value corresponding to the two-link trophic chain (biogenic substance and producer) and then, to gradually decrease. The residual concentration of biogenic limiting substances monotone increases. Net primary production and residual concentration of biogenic limiting substances in systems with recycle with even number of links behaves similarly to that in without recycle ecosystems. In the systems with recycle with the odd number of links that values lies on the stable level. We showed that in wide range of the dilution rate the recycling of the ecosystem can highly increase the net primary production and reduce residual concentration of biogenic limiting substances. The influence of the dilution rate on numbers of links that may exist in the system was analyzed.