Scaling up from individual behaviour to complex eco-ecolutuonary dynamics of marine ecosystems (MECHANISTIC-WEBMODEL)

Main funder

Funder's project number: 350392

Funds granted by main funder (€)

Funding program

Project timetable

Project start date: 01/09/2022

Project end date: 29/02/2024

Summary

Understanding how different environmental and human-induced drivers shape ecosystems and their evolution are fundamental challenges in conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Atlantic cod in North Atlantic is a commercially and ecological important species, which in many locations collapsed thirty years ago due to fishing. Despite many attempts to recover the populations, including minimal fishing and fishery closures, the populations have shown little signs of recovery and may be facing extinction within decades. Thus, it is especially important to understand which hidden drivers and characteristics of the ecosystems inhibit or prevent recovery of collapsed cod populations. This project aims to explore how elementary interactions between species contribute to the large-scale behaviour of whole ecosystems. This kind of mechanistic understanding of the underlying environmental and human-related drivers is critical to predicting the effects of environmental change on ecosystem structure and to facilitate future development of best practices for ecosystem conservation.

Principal Investigator

Other persons related to this project (JYU)

Primary responsible unit

Free keywords

Food-web modelling; Atlantic cod; eco-evolutionary dynamics; individual behaviour; functional response

Related publications and other outputs