POLCOMS - ecosystem response

Through collaboration with Plymouth Marine Laboratory POLCOMS includes the sophisticated European Seas Regional Ecosystem model (ERSEM), developed by a number of scientists at several institutes across Europe through projects under the MAST programme of the European Community.

ERSEM is a generic model that describes both the pelagic and benthic ecosystems and the coupling between them in terms of the significant bio-geo-chemical processes affecting the flow of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon. It uses a "functional group" approach to describe the ecosystem whereby biota are grouped together according to their trophic level and sub-divided according to size and feeding method.

The pelagic food web describes phytoplankton succession (in terms of diatoms, flagellates, picoplankton and inedible phytoplankton), the microbial loop (bacteria, heterotrophic flagellates and microzooplankton) and mesozooplankton (omnivores and carnivores) predation.

The benthic sub-model contains a food web capable of describing nutrient and carbon cycling, bioturbation/bioirrigation and the vertical transport in sediment of particulate matter to the activity of benthic biota.

In POLCOMS, ERSEM can be coupled at the hydrodynamic timestep, allowing true physical-biological interaction on a regional scale.