An individual-based model of the early life history of mackerel (Scomber scombrus) in the eastern North Atlantic, simulating transport, growth and mortality
Authored by J Bartsch, SH Coombs
Date Published: 2004
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2419.2004.00305.x
Sponsors:
European Union
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is to provide the core description of the
modelling exercise within the Shelf Edge Advection Mortality And
Recruitment (SEAMAR) programme. An individual-based model (IBM) was
developed for the prediction of year-to-year survival of the early
life-history stages of mackerel (Scomber scombrus) in the eastern North
Atlantic. The IBM is one of two components of the model system. The
first component is a circulation model to provide physical input data
for the IBM. The circulation model is a geographical variant of the
HAMburg Shelf Ocean Model (HAMSOM). The second component is the IBM, which is an i-space configuration model in which large numbers of
individuals are followed as discrete entities to simulate the transport, growth and mortality of mackerel eggs, larvae and post-larvae. Larval
and post-larval growth is modelled as a function of length, temperature
and food distribution; mortality is modelled as a function of length and
absolute growth rate. Each particle is considered as a super-individual
representing 10(6) eggs at the outset of the simulation, and then
declining according to the mortality function. Simulations were carried
out for the years 1998-2000. Results showed concentrations of particles
at Porcupine Bank and the adjacent Irish shelf, along the Celtic Sea
shelf-edge, and in the southern Bay of Biscay. High survival was
observed only at Porcupine and the adjacent shelf areas, and, more
patchily, around the coastal margin of Biscay. The low survival along
the shelf-edge of the Celtic Sea was due to the consistently low
estimates of food availability in that area.
Tags
Temperature
Size
Marine fish
Survival
Spatially-explicit
Georges bank
Walleye pollock
Larval
fish
British-isles
Haddock