Ecological indicators: EcoIND
Ecological indicators are useful tools to analyze and communicate changes in ecosystems and for evaluating environmental status (Coll and Steenbeek, 2017). The ECOIND plug-in added to the EwE modeling approach, is applicable to Ecopath, Ecosim and Ecospace models. ECOIND calculates a series of widely-used ecological indicators in a standardized way, including biomass-based, catch-based, trophic-based, size-based and species-based indicators. The plug-in includes a new taxonomy input database and species traits, where each functional group can be broken down into its composing species, and species traits can be added to characterize each species (Table 2).
ECOIND broadens the EwE modeling approach into biodiversity and conservation-based frameworks to contribute to integrated ecosystem analyses, also in a spatial-temporal mode (Table 3). ECOIND also adds the ability to analyze input uncertainty on output results, from Ecopath, Ecosim and Ecospace, by linking the indicators’ plug-in with the Monte Carlo routine (see section 3 below). This plug-in can be easily modified to add new indicators and species traits to the computations, which can be used to provide indicators dedicated to specific management contexts, such as the Marine Strategy Framework Direction (MSFD) of the EU (Piroddi et al., 2015).
| Indicator | Description | Units | a.1978 | b.2010 | b/a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total C | Total Catch (C) (a) | t·km-2·year-1 | 3.97 | 2.52 | 0.63 |
| Fish C | Catch (C) of all fish species (a) | t·km-2·year-1 | 3.75 | 1.92 | 0.51 |
| Invertebrate C | Catch (C) of all invertebrate species (a) | t·km-2·year-1 | 0.23 | 0.59 | 2.63 |
| Invertebrates / Fish C | Catch (C) of invertebrates over fish (a) | 0.06 | 0.31 | 5.12 | |
| Demersal C | Catch (C) of demersal species (a) | t·km-2·year-1 | 0.23 | 0.59 | 2.63 |
| Pelagic C | Catch (C) of pelagic species (a) | t·km-2·year-1 | 3.95 | 2.21 | 0.56 |
| Demersal / pelagic C | Catch (C) of demersal over pelagic species (a) | 0.06 | 0.27 | 4.71 | |
| Predatory C | Catch (C) of predatory organisms with trophic level ≥ 4 (i) | t·km-2·year-1 | 0.11 | 0.16 | 1.42 |
| Discards | Total discarded catch (i) | t·km-2·year-1 | 0.28 | 0.27 | 0.96 |
| Table 3 B. Biomass based: Ecological indicators included in ECOIND plug-in where a. are present values of the Mediterranean food web model in 1978 and b. in 2010, and b/a is the ratio of values from 2010 in relation to 1978 (modified with permission from Coll and Steenbeek, 2017) | |||||
| Indicator | Description | Units | a.1978 | b.2010 | b/a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TL catch | Tropic level (TL) of the catch (i) | 3.07 | 3.12 | 1.02 | |
| MTI | Marine trophic index, trophic level (TL) of the catch (including organisms with TL ≥ 3.25) (i) | 3.78 | 3.91 | 1.03 | |
| TL co. | Trophic level (TL) of the community (including all organisms) (i) | 1.44 | 1.39 | 0.97 | |
| TL co. 2 | Trophic level (TL) of the community (including organisms with TL ≥ 2) (i) | 2.42 | 2.40 | 0.99 | |
| TL co. 3.25 | Trophic level (TL) of the community (including organisms with TL ≥ 3.25) (i) | 3.69 | 3.91 | 1.06 | |
| TL co. 4 | Trophic level (TL) of the community (including organisms with TL ≥ 4) (i) | 4.12 | 4.11 | 1.00 | |
| Table 3 C. Trophic-based: Ecological indicators included in ECOIND plug-in where a. are present values of the Mediterranean food web model in 1978 and b. in 2010, and b/a is the ratio of values from 2010 in relation to 1978 (modified with permission from Coll and Steenbeek, 2017) | |||||
| Indicator | Description | Units | a.1978 | b.2010 | b/a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ML of fish co. | Mean length (ML) of fish in the community (a) | cm | 16.74 | 17.66 | 1.06 |
| ML of fish C | Mean length (ML) of fish in the catch (C) (a) | cm | 12.09 | 15.85 | 1.31 |
| MW of fish co. | Mean weight (MW) of the fish in the community (a) | kg | 170.99 | 164.19 | 0.96 |
| MW of fish C | Mean weight (MW) of fish in the catch (C) (a) | kg | 89.11 | 158.30 | 1.78 |
| MLS of fish co. | Mean life span (MLS) of fish in the community (a) | year | 4.47 | 4.61 | 1.03 |
| MLS of fish C | Mean life span (MLS) of fish the catch (C) (a) | year | 3.34 | 4.52 | 1.35 |
| Table 3 D. Size-based: Ecological indicators included in ECOIND plug-in where a. are present values of the Mediterranean food web model in 1978 and b. in 2010, and b/a is the ratio of values from 2010 in relation to 1978 (modified with permission from Coll and Steenbeek, 2017) | |||||
| Indicator | Description | Units | a.1978 | b.2010 | b/a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intrinsic Vul. Index | Intrinsic Vulnerability Index of the catch (a) | 49.29 | 47.97 | 0.97 | |
| Endemics B | Biomass (B) of endemic species in the community (a) | t·km-2 | 1.E-04 | 2.E-04 | 1.73 |
| Endemics C | Endemic species in the catch (C) (a) | t·km-2·year-1 | 2.E-08 | 6.E-07 | 33.07 |
| IUCN species B | Biomass (B) of IUCN-endangered species in the community (a) | t·km-2 | 1.07 | 0.72 | 0.67 |
| IUCN species C | IUCN-endangered species in the catch (C) (a) | t·km-2·year-1 | 0.09 | 0.14 | 1.61 |
| Mammals, birds & reptiles B | Biomass (B) of marine mammals, seabirds and reptiles (a) | t·km-2 | 0.42 | 0.29 | 0.71 |
| Mammals, birds & reptiles C | Catch (C) of marine mammals, seabirds and reptiles (a) | t·km-2·year-1 | 0.42 | 0.29 | 0.70 |
| Table 3 E. Species based: Ecological indicators included in ECOIND plug-in where a. are present values of the Mediterranean food web model in 1978 and b. in 2010, and b/a is the ratio of values from 2010 in relation to 1978 (modified with permission from Coll and Steenbeek, 2017) | |||||
Adaption
The chapter is adapted, with permission, from:
De Mutsert K, Marta Coll, Jeroen Steenbeek, Cameron Ainsworth, Joe Buszowski, David Chagaris, Villy Christensen, Sheila J.J. Heymans, Kristy A. Lewis, Simone Libralato, Greig Oldford, Chiara Piroddi, Giovanni Romagnoni, Natalia Serpetti, Michael Spence, Carl Walters. 2023. Advances in spatial-temporal coastal and marine ecosystem modeling using Ecopath with Ecosim and Ecospace. Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science, 2nd Edition. Elsevier.
