20 participants from 13 countries (Romania, Germany, Denmark, South Africa, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Finland, Holland, Greece, Italy and France) got together to learn about the Ecopath with Ecosim food web modelling approach (EwE, https://www.ecopath.org). This course, organized under 6 European and National projects (Ges4Seas, ActNow, MarinePlan, FutureMares, EcoScope, Oceans+, and ProOceans), aimed to help participants with their modelling-related tasks, work packages and deliverables.

A three-day introductory course was followed by a two-day advanced course. The introductory course discussed basic concepts and procedures modelling aquatic ecosystems using the EwE approach. Participants were provided with the principles behind EwE, and how to design, parameterize and analyze an ecological model. Introductory concepts of the temporal module Ecosim and the spatial-temporal module Ecospace were presented. The advanced course discussed in-depth principles of Ecospace. Special focus was paid to how to use EwE to study the impacts of cumulative stressors, including the impact of climate change, and the effects of alternative management options of marine resources to move towards adaptation and mitigation of human activities under global change.

The course was taught by a team of core scientists behind EwE: Villy Christensen (University of British Columbia, Canada), Jeroen Steenbeek (Ecopath International Initiative, Spain) and Marta Coll (Institute of Marine Science, Spain). Three teaching assistants completed the team: Elena Lloret and Dorota Szalaj, from ICM, and Riikka Puntilla-Dodd, from Åbo Akademi University (Finland).

Ecosystem modelling courses were frequently taught at ICM before 2019, and starting with this course, the intention is to organize them again on annual basis. “These courses are a great opportunity for the scientific community to get introduced to one of the most applied ecological modelling tools in the world, while meeting participants from all over the world and learn about the recent developments of the approach” highlights Marta Coll, from ICM.

Villy Christensen, UBC, states “It is a great pleasure to be back at ICM-CSIC to teach this Ecopath with Ecosim course. There is a high demand for this kind of courses and participants are really engaged and keen to learn“. “With it’s fantastic location and accessibility, we can turn the ICM-CSIC into the heart of Ecopath with Ecosim training in Europe”, says Jeroen Steenbeek.

We invite you to see our latest contribution in Frontiers of Marine Science. Here, we challenge the marine ecosystem modeling community to address how to: (i) enable ocean managers and decision-makers to use their science, (ii) communicate their science, and most importantly (iii) ensure co-design of their science to achieve sustainable development. For this, we define ecosystem models as those that span physical and human drivers of change in the full ecosystem from plankton to top predators.

9 December 2019 – FWRI, St. Petersburg, FL., USA – Jeroen Steenbeek, Joe Buszowski.

In this advanced workshop, students explored the workings of the Ecopath with Ecosim spatial-temporal data framework and its utility to Ecospace. Students interacted with a stripped-down version of the data framework to connect a case study model with time-varying driver data. Students discussed the process of preparing geo-spatial data needs for the different Ecospace map layers, and best practices in sharing spatial-temporal data with others.

The spatial-temporal data framework is a GIS data exchange toolkit for EwE, available via a professional license.

@article{lewis_employing_2016b,

title = {Employing ecosystem models and geographic information systems (GIS) to investigate the response of changing marsh edge on historical biomass of estuarine nekton in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, USA},

author = {K. A. Lewis and K. Mutsert and J. Steenbeek and H. Peele and J. H. Cowan and J. Buszowski},

url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380016300059},

doi = {10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.01.017},

issn = {0304-3800},

year  = {2016},

date = {2016-07-01},

journal = {Ecological Modelling},

volume = {331},

number = {Supplement C},

pages = {129--141},

series = {Ecopath 30 years \textendash Modelling ecosystem dynamics: beyond boundaries with EwE},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{lewisEmployingEcosystemModels2016,

title = {Employing Ecosystem Models and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to Investigate the Response of Changing Marsh Edge on Historical Biomass of Estuarine Nekton in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, USA},

author = {K. A. Lewis and K. Mutsert and J. Steenbeek and H. Peele and J. H. Cowan and J. Buszowski},

doi = {10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.01.017},

issn = {0304-3800},

year  = {2016},

date = {2016-07-01},

journal = {Ecological Modelling},

volume = {331},

number = {Supplement C},

pages = {129\textendash141},

series = {Ecopath 30 Years \textendash Modelling Ecosystem Dynamics: Beyond Boundaries with EwE},

abstract = {Louisiana's coastal ecosystem has a long historical record of productive fisheries. Even in light of the multiple perturbations experienced in this region, fish and shellfish landings have remained stable or increasing. These disturbances have resulted in many unforeseen ecological consequences; one such consequence is the loss of marsh vegetation in southern Louisiana (LA). Marsh habitats are thought to function as nursery habitats for post-larval and juvenile fishes, providing both refuge from predation and increased foraging opportunities. As the loss of marsh appeared to have a null effect on fish and shellfish yields, there evolved a hypothesis that described a positive effect on nekton production; increasing marsh edge distance during marsh degradation provides a potential short-term increase in marsh access for organisms. Here we used Geographic Information System (GIS) data to determine the patterns of marsh loss over a 10 year period and to create marsh edge maps for further analysis in an ecosystem model. We used the ecosystem model Ecopath with Ecosim and Ecospace (EwE) to determine if a suitable response mechanism between estuarine organisms and marsh edge distance could be developed. The scenario analysis of multiple theoretical response functions showed Ecospace's ability to model changing habitat and environmental variables over time and space. More specifically, while the results of this modeling effort revealed species-specific responses to marsh edge, the association between nekton and marsh edge may not be as tightly coupled as once thought in coastal LA.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{lewis_employing_2016,

title = {Employing ecosystem models and geographic information systems (GIS) to investigate the response of changing marsh edge on historical biomass of estuarine nekton in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, USA},

author = {K. A. Lewis and K. Mutsert and J. Steenbeek and H. Peele and J. H. Cowan and J. Buszowski},

url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380016300059},

doi = {10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.01.017},

issn = {0304-3800},

year  = {2016},

date = {2016-07-01},

urldate = {2016-01-01},

journal = {Ecological Modelling},

volume = {331},

number = {Supplement C},

pages = {129\textendash141},

series = {Ecopath 30 years \textendash Modelling ecosystem dynamics: beyond boundaries with EwE},

abstract = {Louisiana's coastal ecosystem has a long historical record of productive fisheries. Even in light of the multiple perturbations experienced in this region, fish and shellfish landings have remained stable or increasing. These disturbances have resulted in many unforeseen ecological consequences; one such consequence is the loss of marsh vegetation in southern Louisiana (LA). Marsh habitats are thought to function as nursery habitats for post-larval and juvenile fishes, providing both refuge from predation and increased foraging opportunities. As the loss of marsh appeared to have a null effect on fish and shellfish yields, there evolved a hypothesis that described a positive effect on nekton production; increasing marsh edge distance during marsh degradation provides a potential short-term increase in marsh access for organisms. Here we used Geographic Information System (GIS) data to determine the patterns of marsh loss over a 10 year period and to create marsh edge maps for further analysis in an ecosystem model. We used the ecosystem model Ecopath with Ecosim and Ecospace (EwE) to determine if a suitable response mechanism between estuarine organisms and marsh edge distance could be developed. The scenario analysis of multiple theoretical response functions showed Ecospace's ability to model changing habitat and environmental variables over time and space. More specifically, while the results of this modeling effort revealed species-specific responses to marsh edge, the association between nekton and marsh edge may not be as tightly coupled as once thought in coastal LA.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

7 December 2019 – FWRI, St Pteresburg, FL. USA – Jeroen Steenbeek, Harald Warmelink, Magali Gonçalves

The Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Challenge 2050 is a computer supported simulation-game that gives maritime spatial planners insight in the diverse challenges of sustainable planning of human activities in the marine and coastal ecosystem. The objective of the simulation-game is to significantly contribute to policy learning and international planning practices with regard to integrated (eco-based) Marine Spatial Planning. The game makes players try, experience failure and success, and reflect upon questions such as:

• What are possible futures for the North Sea (2050)?
• What are the long term consequences of short term decisions?
• What are important indicators for the effectiveness of MSP, and how do we monitor them?
• What are the inter-dependencies of sectorial and national policies?
• Where are the significant conflicts and trade-offs among competing economic activities?
• Where and how can economic activities be combined or integrated?
• Where are the cumulative effects of economic activities upon marine ecology?
• Where are the ecologically vulnerable areas, and what can be done to protect them?

During this full-day session, participants assumed the role of planner in a simulated maritime spatial planning session for the North Sea.

Can you and your team meet your planning objectives while achieving Good Environmental Status with a prospering ecosystem? Let’s find out, come and play. For more info, see http://www.mspchallenge.info

4-11 December 2019 – FWRI, St Petersburg, FL. USA

The “Ecopath 35 years – Making Ecosystem-Based Management Operational” conference and workshops was held in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA, during December 4 to 11, 2019, and showcased thirtyfive years of progress using the Ecopath approach in different fields: fisheries management, marine conservation, ecosystem dynamics, climate impacts, and ecosystem-based management (EBM), as well as to introduce exciting new facilities of the approach. The gathering was an international scientific reunion on ecosystem modelling based on the Ecopath and Ecosim modelling framework and software.

Proceed to the conference website