We develop a new method that allows for more accurate biovolume calculations of microorganisms. This method also allows the volume of individual skeletal features of microorganisms to be analyzed separately so that estimates of the resource cost per evolutionary adaptations may be assessed. We also provide a means to link community changes to alterations in nutrient cycles, ecosystem function, and rock-forming processes by plankton. This method integrates computer-aided design software from engineering and architecture into biological applications. Our method substantially improves the accuracy of biovolume estimates for species which currently rely upon simple geometric models that preclude the presence of ultrastructure in microorganism skeletons. In addition, using simple shapes to represent the skeletal form of microorganisms prohibits the exploration of resource cost that various adaptations, for example, spines for protection from grazers, have imposed upon plankton. Thus, integrating architectural and engineering approaches more broadly into biovolume estimations produces new insight into the physiology of microorganisms that can turn speculations into quantitative analyses.

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关于浮游植物：一种使用3D计算机模型计算微生物生物量的新方法

我们开发了一种新方法，可以更准确地计算微生物的生物量。该方法还允许单独分析微生物的各个骨骼特征的体积，从而可以评估每次进化适应的资源成本估算。我们还提供了一种手段，可以将群落变化与浮游生物的养分循环，生态系统功能和成岩过程的变化联系起来。这种方法将工程和建筑领域的计算机辅助设计软件集成到生物应用程序中。我们的方法大大提高了目前依靠简单的几何模型来排除微生物骨骼中超微结构的物种的生物体积估计的准确性。此外，用简单的形状来表示微生物的骨骼形式，阻止了对资源成本的探索，例如，各种适应措施，例如用于保护食草动物的棘突，已经强加给浮游生物。因此，将建筑和工程方法更广泛地整合到生物量估计中，可以对微生物的生理学产生新的见解，从而可以将推测转化为定量分析。