EGU2020-5741
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-5741
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Gathering knowledge on mesopelagic ecosystems: insights from a parsimonious modelling approach

Anna Conchon1, Olivier Titaud1, Inna Senina1, Beatriz Calmettes1, Audrey Delpech2, and Patrick Lehodey1
Anna Conchon et al.
  • 1Collecte Localisation Satellites, Sustainable Fisheries Management, Ramonvile, France (anna.conchon@groupcls.com)
  • 2LEGOS - UMR 5566 CNRS/CNES/IRD/UPS, Toulouse, France

SEAPODYM-LMTL is the Lower (zooplankton) and Mid (micronekton) Trophic levels model of the Spatial Ecosystem And POpulation DYnamic Modeling framework. Currently, there is one zooplankton and 6 micronekton functional groups defined according to their vertical behavior and development times. The model is global and spatially explicit with transport described through a system of advection-diffusion equations. The vertical dimension is simplified into three layers -- epipelagic, upper and lower mesopelagic -- defined relatively to the euphotic depth. There are three vertically migrant and three non-migrant functional groups. The model is parsimonious with only a few parameters (6 for the zooplankton and 11 for the micronekton) that control the energy transfer efficiency from the primary production and the mortality and time of development that are linked to the water temperature. A data assimilation framework has been implemented to estimate those parameters.  We present briefly the latest results and future challenges of this model. They include the validation of vertical layer boundaries, the first zooplankton and micronekton parameters estimation using existing biomass observations, and the developments needed to use large global datasets of acoustic data. 

How to cite: Conchon, A., Titaud, O., Senina, I., Calmettes, B., Delpech, A., and Lehodey, P.: Gathering knowledge on mesopelagic ecosystems: insights from a parsimonious modelling approach, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-5741, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-5741, 2020