A generalised sigmoid population growth model with energy dependence: Application to quantify the tipping point for Antarctic shallow seabed algae

Sigmoid growth models are often used to study population dynamics. The size of a population at equilibrium commonly depends explicitly on the availability of resources, such as an energy or nutrient source, which is not explicit in standard sigmoid growth models. A simple generalised extension of sigmoid growth models is introduced that can explicitly account for this resource-dependence, demonstrated by three examples of this family of models of increasing mathematical complexity. Each model is calibrated and compared to observed data for algae under sea-ice in Antarctic coastal waters. It was found that through careful construction, models satisfying the proposed framework can estimate key properties of a sea-ice break-out controlled tipping point for the algae, which cannot be estimated using standard sigmoid growth models. The proposed broader family of energy-dependent sigmoid growth models likely has usage in many population growth contexts where resources limit population size. • Novel generalisable and highly flexible sigmoid growth model framework. • Models incorporate energy dependence for biological and ecological populations. • Three model examples were applied to a case study of Antarctic shallow-water algae. • Biologically meaningful parameters, tipping points and population sizes predicted. • The model framework is applicable to any system exhibiting energy dependence.