Spatial-Temporal Data

A spatial-temporal data framework (STDF) has been added to Ecospace to facilitate dynamic data exchange into the running model (Steenbeek et al., 2013). Development of this framework was greatly facilitated by the modular design of EwE version 6 (Steenbeek et al., 2016). In the framework, external data integration into the model is divided into three layers: data access, data conversion and data integration (Fig. 2).

To obtain output of Ecospace in GIS formats, the pathway for data integration is effectively reversed. Once the output data are passed through a conversion process, data are made available to the user and can then be saved to an external location (Fig. 3).

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Figure 2 – The modular design of the spatial-temporal framework in Ecospace, depicting how external GIS data are integrated into EwE (reproduced with permission from Steenbeek et al., 2013)
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Figure 3 – The modular design of the spatial-temporal framework in Ecospace, depicting how external data is output (reproduced with permission from Steenbeek et al., 2013)

The new capabilities added to Ecospace allow the user to fully develop spatial-temporal dynamic modeling simulations, considering spatial food-web dynamics and changes in environmental conditions and human activities over time and space. The current configuration of the HFC model of Ecospace has a flexible structural design, which allows the inclusion of spatial-temporal data in different steps of the HFC model according to data availability and ecological hypothesis and management scenarios (Fig. 4).

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Figure 4 – Modularity of the Habitat Foraging Capacity model (HFC). Every functional group has a base input capacity layer that can be overridden by external niche distributions. In addition, habitat affinities and preferences for environmental functions can be applied to redefine habitat foraging capacity within a species niche. This configuration is a per-group setting (modified from Coll et al., 2020)

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.

 

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User Guide for Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) Copyright © 2024 by Ecopath International Initiative is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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