Assessing the role of benthic filter feeders in in the food web of the Gulf of Gdansk (Sothern Baltic) – an Ecopath with Ecosim exercise

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Assessing the role of benthic filter feeders in in the food web of the Gulf of Gdansk (Sothern Baltic) – an Ecopath with Ecosim exercise Aleksander Drgas1* and Joanna Całkiewicz1 1 National Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Poland Benthic filter feeders are an important link in energy and matter flow between pelagic and benthic part of the ecosystem. Their role is particularly important in highly eutrophicated water bodies, where they may control phytoplankton biomass. On the other hand, benthic organisms are important part of benthivorous fish diet and may affect the availability of food for zooplankton. Possible changes in the biomass of benthic filter feeders due to changes in environmental conditions, changes in the structure of the food web or the appearance of alien species may cause effects on different trophic levels of the ecosystem. The analysis of biomass changes of individual food web elements in the Gulf of Gdansk (Southern Baltic) in response to various scenarios of filter feeders biomass was carried out using the dynamic Ecosim model. This model is based on the Ecopath trophic model constructed for the biomass values of individual ecosystem components observed in 2004-2006. The model is composed of 17 groups, including detritus. The pelagic part consists of fish (cod, flounder, herring, sprat, other predatory fish, other non-predatory fish, and round goby), zoo- and phytoplankton. Benthos is represented by four groups (deposit feeders, predators, filter feeders and meiofauna). The model was also completed by piscivorous and benthivorous birds. Subsequent runs of the Ecosim model were carried out for different biomass values of benthic filter feeders, starting with a drastic decrease through intermediate states to a fourfold increase in biomass in relation to the real values observed in 2004-2006 period. In addition, model runs were carried out at a set of vulnerability values to simulate different control mechanisms (top-down vs bottom-up). The simulations carried out for the period 2017-2050 showed a significant effect of benthic filter feeders biomass change biomass on the other elements of the food web. It concerned not only those groups of organisms directly affected by filtrators (phytoplankton) and those for whom this group of organisms is food (benthivorous fish) but also elements more distant trophic levels such as herring or sprat. Acknowledgements This work resulted from the BONUS BLUEWEBS project which has received funding from BONUS (Art 185), funded jointly by the EU, the Academy of Finland, Projektträger Jülich (PtJ), Germany, the State Education Development Agency of Latvia, the National Centre for Research and Development, Poland, and the Swedish Research Council Formas. Keywords: Benthic filter feeder, Gulf of Gdanńsk, food web, modelling, Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) Conference: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) , Braga, Portugal, 9 Sep - 12 Sep, 2019. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Oceanography, Modelling and Dynamics of Ecosystems Citation: Drgas A and Całkiewicz J (2019). Assessing the role of benthic filter feeders in in the food web of the Gulf of Gdansk (Sothern Baltic) – an Ecopath with Ecosim exercise. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) . doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.08.00040 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 13 May 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. Aleksander Drgas, National Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Gdynia, Poland, adrgas@mir.gdynia.pl Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Aleksander Drgas Joanna Całkiewicz Google Aleksander Drgas Joanna Całkiewicz Google Scholar Aleksander Drgas Joanna Całkiewicz PubMed Aleksander Drgas Joanna Całkiewicz Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.