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Best practice in Ecopath with Ecosim food-web models for ecosystem-based management
Open accessAbstract
Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) models are easier to construct and use compared to most other ecosystem modelling techniques and are therefore more widely used by more scientists and managers. This, however, creates a problem with quality assurance; to address this we provide an overview of best practices for creating Ecopath models. We describe the diagnostics that can be used to check for thermodynamic and ecological principles, and highlight principles that should be used for balancing a model. We then highlight the pitfalls when comparing Ecopath models using Ecological Network Analysis indices. For dynamic simulations in Ecosim we show the state of the art in calibrating the model by fitting it to time series using a formal fitting procedure and statistical goodness of fit. Finally, we show how Monte Carlo simulations can be used to address uncertainty in input parameters, and we discuss the use of models in a management context, specifically using the concept of ‘key runs’ for ecosystem-based management. This novel list of best practices for EwE models will enable ecosystem managers to evaluate the goodness of fit of the given EwE model to the ecosystem management question.
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“The Q/B was reduced, and the P/B was increased for fish so that the P/Q ratio was near 0.2–0.3 based on EwE best practices [74, 75].”
From Modelling microplastic bioaccumulation and biomagnification potential in the Galápagos penguin ecosystem using Ecopath and Ecosim (EwE) with Ecotracer (2024) · cites this paper as [75]
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McMullen, K., Vargas, F. H., Calle, P., Alavarado-Cadena, O., Pakhomov, E. A., & Alava, J. J. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0296788 · Cited by 46
“The Q/B was reduced, and the P/B was increased for fish so that the P/Q ratio was near 0.2–0.3 based on EwE best practices [74, 75].”
MethodInfluential
Metadata
- Authors
- Heymans, J. J., Coll, M., Link, J. S., Mackinson, S., Steenbeek, J., Walters, C., & Christensen, V.
- Affiliations
- Scottish Association For Marine Science (GB)
- NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (US)
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (GB)
- Ecopath International Initiative (ES)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Heymans, Johanna Jacomina
- Venue
- Ecological Modelling
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-07
- Volume
- 331
- Pages
- 173-184
- ISSN
- 0304-3800 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2286380963
- Cited by
- 529
- References
- 78
- Citations by year
- 2026: 57 · 2025: 48 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 62 · 2022: 66 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 60 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 45 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 8
- FWCI
- 26.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Ecological Modelling (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Institutional Archive of Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government (NE/L003279/1, EU FP7 GAP2, M1228, 266544)
- Natural Environment Research Council
- European Commission
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2014-05782)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Marine and fisheries research
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Applied Mathematics › Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models
- Keywords
- Ecopath with Ecosim, food web models, ecosystem-based management, model calibration, model diagnostics, thermodynamic principles, ecological network analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, parameter uncertainty
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