HR: 16:00h
AN: OS54A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: On Modeling the Biomass Energy Density Cascade Through An Ecosystem
AU: Rothschild, B
EM: brothschild@umassd.edu
AF: School for Marine Science and Technology, UMass Dartmouth, 706 South Rodney French Blvd., New Bedford, MA 02744-1221 United States
AU: * Tandon, A
EM: atandon@umassd.edu
AF: School for Marine Science and Technology, UMass Dartmouth, 706 South Rodney French Blvd., New Bedford, MA 02744-1221 United States
AB: Following the earlier ideas of Silvert and Platt (1978), a thermodynamic formalism for ecosystem models is described in terms of biomass energy density cascading through a size spectrum from small to larger sizes rather than traditional box type kinematic ecosystem models. The biomass energy model takes account of the differing dynamics of autotrophs, heterotrophs and detritus and dissolved material. Given a size-dependent initial energy density distribution, the model describes the generalized diffusion and dissipation of energy through the ecosystem. The detritus and dissolved material energy equation has storage and loss terms, apart from a gain term from autotrophs and heterotrophs, but no growth term. The autotroph biomass energy equation has strorage, loss, long-range scale separated diffusion due to interaction with heterotrophs, and energy input from the environment via physical factors (e.g. light). The biomass energy equation for heterotrophs features the storage, loss, growth term, as well as complement of the long-range scale separated diffusion energy (autotroph-heterotroph interaction), and energy diffusion within heterotrophs. This work will present some preliminary ideas concerned with such an ecosystems view, including how ocean physics affects the energy density cascade.
DE: 4815 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics
DE: 4524 Fine structure and microstructure
DE: 3200 MATHEMATICAL GEOPHYSICS (New field)
DE: 3210 Modeling
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting