The advent of genomic‐, transcriptomic‐ and proteomic‐based approaches has revolutionized our ability to describe marine microbial communities, including biogeography, metabolic potential and diversity, mechanisms of adaptation, and phylogeny and evolutionary history. New interdisciplinary approaches are needed to move from this descriptive level to improved quantitative, process‐level understanding of the roles of marine micr...

The controls on the ‘Redfield’ N : P stoichiometry of marine phytoplankton and hence the N : P ratio of the deep ocean remain incompletely understood. Here, we use a model for phytoplankton ecophysiology and growth, based on functional traits and resource‐allocation trade‐offs, to show how environmental filtering, biotic interactions, and element cycling in a global ecosystem model determine phytoplankton biogeography, growth...

Here we describe a new trait‐based model for cellular resource allocation that we use to investigate the relative importance of different drivers for small cell size in phytoplankton. Using the model, we show that increased investment in nonscalable structural components with decreasing cell size leads to a trade‐off between cell size, nutrient and light affinity, and growth rate. Within the most extreme nutrient‐limited, stra...