Introduction to competition between continuous cultures of Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Dunaliella tertiolecta.
When the diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and the microalga, Dunaliella tertiolecta, are cultured together in a chemostat at dilution factors of approximately 0.5 day-1, the diatom develops the higher population density. At dilution factors above 1.2 day-1 the inability of the diatom to assimilate nutrient as fast as it flows into the chemostat results in the microalga generating the larger population. This change in population densities is accompanied by an increase in the chlorophyll content of the diatom and a decrease in the chlorophyll content of the microalga. Two species of phytoplankton can coexist when they compete for nutrient in a chemostat providing they do not otherwise interact. When the species do interact coexistence in a stable steady state is possible providing intraspecies interactions exceed the interactions between the species. Both species adjust their consumption to minimise the concentration of nutrient in the chemostat and their growth is modified to match the dilution factor of the flow.