Biotic regulation: the third reservoir

[ap.vanduijn]

Dear Anastassia, dear all,

While reading Key ecological parameters of immotile versus locomotive life (G&M, 2020) I got a little confused. Please find the relevant quotes below and my question at the end.

Best regards,

Arie

“The genetic program of biotic regulation is aimed at sustaining the internal milieu of the live layer, in particular, at preserving its depth (i.e. the steady-state biomass).”

“If biotic regulation aimed to preserve only the internal milieu of the live layer (i.e. it stabilized the organic reservoir only), then such random external disturbances would disrupt the constancy of mass of the active reservoir of the inorganic biogen. Then the external environment were changing in a random direction under the influence of external disturbances.”

“Therefore, for the biotic regulation to be effective, a third reservoir, either organic or inorganic, is needed, Fig. 3, which will play the role of a buffer from which the biota could replenish the lacking biogens and where it could dispose of the excessive biogens.”

Question:

From the first quote I understand that the aim of biotic regulation is sustaining only the internal milieu of the live layer. The second quote makes me question if I understood this correctly or not. Does biotic regulation aim at sustaining the metabolically active reservoirs (i.e. the internal milieu of the live layer) and do immotile ecological communities merely use the metabolically inactive reservoirs (excluding the unregulated inactive reservoirs) as a deliberately designed-in buffer for replenishment/disposal of lacking/excess biogens? Or does biotic regulation aim at sustaining both the metabolically active and inactive reservoirs (excluding the unregulated inactive reservoirs)? Thank you.