Toward standard parameterizations in marine biological modeling

Biological modeling is an important investigation tool in oceanography, which can provide an insight into biological dynamics, integrate multi-disciplinary processes and predict ecological events. However, the lack of a common set of parameterizations of fundamental biological processes hinders progresses in simulation skill, reliability and predictability. There exist 13 functions for light forcing on phytoplankton growth, 5 for nutrient limitation, 6 for ammonium inhibition on nitrate uptake, 10 for temperature forcing on biological rates, 20 for zooplankton feeding on a single type of prey, 15 for feeding on multiple types of prey, 8 for mortality and 6 for respiration. All of these functions are actually in use in modeling applications. This paper presents an overview of the existing functions. Based on their functionality, flexibility and reliability, a subset of functions has been selected as an a priori set of parameterizations. I suggest to use these selected parameterizations when they can fit well the data. By doing this, we can reduce the number of biological parameters that need to be estimated and provide a better opportunity for intercomparison.