Modeling Phytoplankton Movement and Fitness in Lakes

The majority of organisms on Earth are ectothermic, and their body temperatures largely depend on the surrounding environmental conditions. Body temperature strongly affects fitness. In a spatially variable environment, movement can allow an ectothermic organism to change their body temperature. This project explores body temperature and movement in the context of phytoplankton fitness within lake environments. By modeling movement strategies using lake thermal profile data, we infer the range of temperatures phytoplankton experience and the resulting effect on fitness.