Integration of improved understanding of ecosystem service regulation into ERSEM model system

Lead Research Organisation: Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Department Name: Plymouth Marine Lab

Abstract

Summary
The world's oceans and seas are home to highly diverse ecosystems and are characterised by the richness and abundance of species. Marine ecosystems provide a range of important services to mankind including food production, climate regulation through the cycling of carbon and other macronutrients, and a range of cultural values (e.g. recreation, tourism). They are in serious decline, primarily as a result of over-harvesting, pollution, and the direct and indirect impacts of climate change. In many locations, pressure from human activity and climatic changes have been associated with dramatic shifts in species composition, known as phase or regime shifts, which are often long lasting and difficult to reverse.
Our understanding of the ecosystems of the UK's coastal and shelf seas is limited and many processes are poorly understood. For example changes in the physical and chemical environment (temperature, circulation, light availability, nutrients) mainly affect algal growth and thus impact the foodweb through bottom up control, whilst impacts such as harvesting act on fish which modify the biomass of lower trophic levels thus altering the controls from predation. However the relative roles of these processes and hence the extent to which environmental change cascades through marine food webs and affects ecosystem services requires elucidation.
Our challenge is to further develop the existing ERSEM-NEMO modelling framework to better represent biodiversity-relevant processes, flows and feedbacks over a range of spatio-temporal scales, and to be able to model changes in function and the consequences of such changes in the context of ecosystem services. Furthermore these modelling tools need to be suitable for testing the impact of potential management solutions, such as marine conservation zones, on the structure and function of marine food webs across scales, and to explore the efficacy of specific indicators of good environmental status.
A big challenge in modelling marine ecosystems is to capture the hierarchical nature of biodiversity and hence to explore a range of scales. This requires a scalable model system, with a traceable hierarchy whereby more complex foodweb structures can be systematically and coherently related to simple foodweb structures. The project will provide new modelling tools which provide estimates of crucial information to help resolve key scientific questions as well as provide a better understanding of the marine ecosystems as they respond to global change and direct anthropogenic pressures. The combination of predictive tools and new knowledge will underpin the development and implementation of marine policy and the implementation of marine forecast systems.

Planned Impact

Impact Summary
Who will benefit from this research?
Policy-makers
Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
EU member states

Agencies:
Marine Scotland
AFBI
Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP)
Marine Management Organisation (MMO)
National Centre for Ocean Forecasting (NCOF)
Commercial private sector
Environmental Consultancies

Wider public:
UK and international general public and relevant NGOs

How will they benefit from this research?
Policy-makers/agencies
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) (MSFD) requires EC member states to develop strategies to achieve a healthy marine environment and make ecosystems more resilient to climate change in all European marine waters by 2020 at the latest. The strategies must contain a detailed assessment of the state of the environment, a definition of "Good Environmental Status" (GES) at regional level and the establishment of clear environmental targets and monitoring programmes. Defra, Marine Scotland and AFBI are responsible for the implementation of the MSFD in UK and will benefit from improved knowledge and predictive skill for key indicators of the state of the marine environment. In addition by addressing productivity at the lower trophic levels of the marine food web, including forecasting to century-scales, our research may assist the development of marine fisheries policy and approaches for working towards an ecosystem-focused approach to marine resource management. Cefas are key to this engagement, having for many years advised and Defra (and more recently the MMO) on the environmental status of UK waters and are advising on the implementation of the MSFD and the CFP in England and Wales.

Wider public
We will publicise our research through:
A project website
Engagement with the media as appropriate
Programme wide outreach activities as they are developed.
Online summaries of the project and key findings disseminated to key interested parties or events

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description Development of a new modular structure for the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM) (Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Cefas) has been ongoing throughout MERP. This allows scientists to remove, add, and duplicate modelled organisms to improve representation of key species and get a clearer picture of the functional biodiversity for a specific ecosystem and/or location. An exciting new development is a size-based module which represents fish populations. This achievement is a major step forward within the marine ecosystem modelling field, as existing models focus either on the lower or upper trophic levels, and combination of both requires extensive coupling work between two models. Now it is possible to run ERSEM for the whole of the food web, giving ERSEM a unique ability to explore impacts of climate change and human activity on the whole ecosystem, and resulting impacts on ecosystem functioning (clean water, food supply) and the diversity of marine species. To support the parametrization of newly introduced species and functional types in ERSEM, we have together with MERP partners set up a web service and repository with quantitative information on the traits of all marine species: http://www.marine-ecosystems.org.uk/Trait_Explorer. This service had received more than 8500 queries from 384 unique users between 2017 and Apr 2020.
Exploitation Route All Model code is open source and is publicly available from GitHub and Zenodo.

The size-structured fish module has been used outside MERP to produce fish projections (present till 2100) for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN; this work has been included in the 2018 FAO technical paper 627 (http://www.fao.org/3/I9705EN/i9705en.pdf), which is expected to have policy impacts worldwide.

The model developments in MERP now underpins the UK contribution to the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS; https://www.copernicus.eu/en/copernicus-services/marine), as well as numerous national and international scientific projects including https://comfort.w.uib.no, https://missionatlantic.eu, https://www.solstice-wio.org, https://campus-marine.org.
Sectors Agriculture, Food and Drink,Education,Environment

URL https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4075283;https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4593394
 
Description The fish modelling infrastructure developed for MERP has been leveraged to produce projections of global fish stocks and catches between present-day and 2100 for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. These have been published in FAO technical paper 627 (http://www.fao.org/3/I9705EN/i9705en.pdf), the release of which has been widely publicized among scientists and policy makers, and is expected to have inform fisheries policy and adaptation worldwide. It is already referenced in high-impact publications (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6430/930). The new developments in ERSEM now underpin the reanalysis and forecasts for the North West European Shelf that the UK contributes to the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS, https://www.copernicus.eu/en/copernicus-services/marine)
First Year Of Impact 2018
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink
Impact Types Policy & public services

 
Description climate change projections of fish biomass by national EEZs 1850-2099
Amount € 57,609 (EUR)
Organisation Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country Italy
Start 03/2017 
End 12/2017
 
Title PML gitlab server 
Description We set up a gitlab server to help share the model source code and other code between ourselves. We have also added outwards facing components to the server, which allow further collaboration between external scientists. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2014 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This server has allowed other scientists to access and run the ERSEM model. Over 180 scientists have created accounts on this server, allowing the model and other code to be easily disseminated in the community. 
URL https://gitlab.ecosystem-modelling.pml.ac.uk
 
Title UKESM analysis toolkit 
Description A toolkit of analysis techniques has been shared with collaborating scientists in the Met Office and Reading University. This analysis code forms the basis of the validation tools for the UK Earth System Model (UKESM)'s biogeochemical ocean component (MEDUSA). 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2014 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This toolkit is envisaged to assist with the model development and validation of the UKESM model. The results of the UKESM model runs will be submitted WCRP CMIP6. 
URL https://gitlab.ecosystem-modelling.pml.ac.uk/ledm/ukesm-validation
 
Title 3D AMM-jellyfish 
Description 10 years simulation of the Atlantic Margin Ecosystem with NEMO-ERSEM with a diversified trophic web with 5 different Mesozooplankton group of different size and 5 jellyfish group of different size 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact no impact yet 
 
Title 3D two-way coupled plankton-fish simulations for the North-West European Shelf 
Description First multi-year simulations for online, two-way coupled ERSEM-MIZER (MIZER fish grow by consuming ERSEM plankton, ERSEM plankton decreases through predation by fish) for the North-West European Shelf at 7 km resolution (AMM7). 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Presented initial research at the fish-modelling-focused 3rd meeting of the EU network for "ReDEveloping Models of the European Marine Environment" (20-21 March 2018, Brussels), and at the Ocean Prediction Workshop of the UK National Partnership for Ocean Prediction (NPOP) (15-17 May 2018, Liverpool). As a result, we a re now involved in several proposals where the same plankton-fish modelling system will be leveraged. 
 
Title Diversified benthic macrofauna structure in ERSEM 
Description ERSEM input files for modelling diversified structure of benthic macrofauna were created. This structure contains 6 functional types compared to classical 2-type implementation in ERSEM. Model results were validated against observational data from Station L4 of the Western Channel Observatory. Functional role of each group within whole ecosystem was analysed. Manuscript describing model setup and results is currently in preparation. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact This model structure was one of initial steps towards reseach of functional importance of benthic biodiversity using modelling approach, and mutual influence of biodiversity and physical forcing/hydrodynamics. 
 
Title ERSEM 22.11 
Description New release of European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM) v22.11 New in this version: Added pelagic denitrification following Sankar et al (2016). Parameterisation of pelagic production and air-sea exchange of nitrous oxide following Lessin et al (2020)(https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005613). Added first-order kinetics capability to the pelagic base module. Units of total alkalinity and bioalkalinity have been changed from umol/kg to mmol/m3. Extended documentation with new and updated tutorials. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Not yet 
URL https://zenodo.org/record/7300564#.ZA7q3tLP2EI
 
Title European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model 19.04 
Description ERSEM is an ecosystem model of marine biogeochemistry and the lower trophic levels of the marine food-web. It is used in a wide variety of projects funded by NERC, Defra, the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service, and the EU Horizons 2020 program, among others. Changes in ERSEM 19.04 New functionality • provide pH on total scale (seawater scale is still supported, but not the default) • new module for fluff (particulate matter at sediment-water interface) • many more diagnostics, sufficient to completely reconstruct C,N,P flows throughout the ecosystem • benthic bacteria now support arbitrary numbers of substrates • first-order temperature-dependent mineralisation of benthic POM (default: off) • configurable critical shear threshold for deposition at bed (default: as before) • no_river_dilution is configurable for all pelagic variables Changed behaviour • apply resuspension to the surface concentration rather than the column total of benthic POM. This prevents excessive resuspension at high bottom shear stress • disabled river dilution of yellow matter (light_iop_ady) Fixes • temperature dependence of air-sea oxygen exchange • bacteria dynamics for sR1 values other than 1 • temperature responses under very low temperatures • various fixes for numerical stability (e.g., rate dampening) • various fixes to prevent NaNs (e.g., avoid 0/0) for very rare combinations of state and environment 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The release was announced to over 200 registered ERSEM users on 1 May 2019. It was directly taken up by a variety of projects, including the UK MetOffice operational system that delivers forecasts for marine waters over the North-West European Shelf to the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service. 
URL https://www.pml.ac.uk/Modelling_at_PML/Access_Code
 
Title Fish in FABM-ERSEM 
Description Ongoing development to add a generic fish compartment in FABM-ERSEM 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact None yet. 
 
Title Framework for increased zooplankton diversity in biogeochemical ecosystem models (Jellyfish) 
Description New framework to add diversity to grazers and predators in ecosystem model. The framework allows for inclusion of Jellyfish. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Presented at Academic meeting with indication of possible uptake by the wider community, with collaborations. 
 
Title Model describing the nutrient-dependent production of recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon 
Description By combining previously published model formulations (Polimene et al., 2006 and 2015) we have developed a theoretical modelling framework able to simulate the variability of the Biological Carbon Pump (sinking of particles) to Microbial Carbon Pump (bacterial production of recalcitrant DOM) ratio as function of external nutrient availability 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Outcomes of this model have been published on journal of Plankton Research 
 
Title Model trophic structure 
Description Set of various combination of predator to investigate impact of the food web structure within an ecosystem model on its intrinsic properties. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact N/A 
 
Title Modelled impact of MPA on recovery of benthic communities from trawling 
Description Several trawling exclusion areas were introduced into NEMO-ERSEM AMM7 model setup with trawling impacts. Model was run for the period 2006-2015. Recovery of benthic fauna within MPAs and in adjacent areas was analysed. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The work has potential impact on future policy and management decisions regarding regulations of trawling activity. 
 
Title Modelling benthic macrofaunal diversity on the North West European Shelf 
Description Spatiotemporal dynamics of benthic macrofaunal diversity on the North West European Shelf was investigated using NEMO-ERSEM model for a 20-year period. The model was parameterised implementing six subgroups of benthic macrofauna with differing feeding modes, diet preferences and physiological rates, based on 1D experiments representing L4 station. The model was initiated with spatially uniform distributions of each group to study adjustment of communities to the governing conditions of physical environment and food supply. Distribution of biomasses of various groups and biodiversity indices were analysed for a set of stations. Outcomes of this work were presented at MERP final science meeting and EGU General Assembly 2018. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact No specific impacts yet. 
 
Title Modular version or ERSEM (FABM-ERSEM) 
Description A new, modular version of the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM) has been implemented in the Framework for Aquatic Biogeochemical Models (FABM). This model allow plug-and-play combination of different biological modules, thus supporting a hierarchy of models of different complexity. The new model will serve as the basis for future model development at PML, supporting among others the Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry (SSB) program and Marine Ecosystem Research Program (MERP). 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2014 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The work is central in ongoing collaboration with the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), and has led to PML being invited to participate in a proposal targeting coupled hydrodynamic-biogeochemical modelling of the Iranian Lake Urmia. 
URL https://gitlab.ecosystem-modelling.pml.ac.uk/jbr/fabm-ersem
 
Title NEMO-FABM coupler update 
Description We have updated the PML-maintained biogeochemical coupler (NEMO-FABM) of the 3D hydrodynamic model NEMO to support more varied biogeochemical model configurations, including spectrally resolved light with feedback to physics (heating through light absorption) and depth-integrated fish stocks. New functionality is designed to integrate with existing biogeochemical models in FABM, including ERSEM and MEDUSA. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Used by various partners including the UK MetOffice in projects funded by e.g. CMEMS, NERC and Defra. 
URL https://www.pml.ac.uk/Modelling_at_PML/Access_Code
 
Title Simulation of benthic macrofauna dynamics at Station L4 of the Western Channel Observatory 
Description Canonical model of benthic macrofauna based on ERSEM components was created to simulate dynamics of benthic macrofauna at Staion L4 in response to phytoplankton bloom dynamics. The model was used to estimate typical response times of macrofauna, as well as roles of functional types in ecosystem functioning. Manuscript describing this model and its results is currently in revision. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The main impact is influence on further integration of different research tools and methods to foster understanding of marine ecosystems. 
 
Title Simulations of benthic macrofaunal diversity in the northwest European shelf seas 
Description NEMO-ERSEM model with diversified benthic macrofauna structure was implemented to simulate dynamics of biodiversity within northwest European continental shelf sea during 2000-2016. Model results allow to analyse how physical forcing and hydrodynamic conditions shape biodiversity structure, which in turn affects biogeochemical cycling within the sea. Model results are currently analysed against available observational data. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact These results allow to analyse how physical environment shapes marine biodiversity, which in turn affects biogeochemistry. This will further allow to analyse impacts of disturbance and climate change on biodiversity and marine ecosystem services in general. 
 
Title Size and trait based zooplankton 
Description Framework combining size and trait based modelling for zooplankton representation within FABM-ERSEM. The framework has been developed to represent copepod and jellyfish, with a varying number of size class within each group, and accompanying equation to alter targeted rate and trophic interactions. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact N/A 
 
Title Zooplankton traits 
Description Collection of data regarding traits of zooplankton to later develop a trait based approach for expanding representation of zooplankton in FABM-ERSEM in order to improve diversity and representation of key functions. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Improved communication and linkage with the experimentalist community. 
 
Title fabm-mizer: size-based fish modelling in FABM 
Description Implementation of fish model "mizer" (https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12238) in the Framework for Aquatic Biogeochemical Models (http://fabm.net). The model is specifically designed to be compatible with ERSEM, and to support two-way ERSEM-mizer coupling in spatially explicit (1D, 3D) systems. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This model underpins the modelling of future fish catch projections for the Food and Agriculture Organization, in support of their 2018 update of technical paper 530 (tentative title "Impacts of climate change for Fisheries and Aquaculture") 
 
Title pydeb: a high performance implementation of the Dynamic Energy Budget model 
Description High performance implementation of Dynamic Energy Budget model equations in Python and C 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Supports functionality of Trait Explorer, http://www.marine-ecosystems.org.uk/Trait_Explorer 
 
Description Biogeochemistry of the benthic zone and implications for marine ecosystems - EGU session 
Organisation University of Liege
Country Belgium 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution A session on biogeochemistry of the benthic zone and implications for marine ecosystems is regularly organised at EGU General Assembly held annually in Vienna. It attracts researchers from various backgrounds - both modellers and experimentalists - to share progress in benthic zone research in oral and poster presentations. Each year prominent speaker is invited to give a keynote talk.
Collaborator Contribution This EGU session will focus on recent outcomes in the understanding of processes controlling benthic biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem dynamics, implementation of new experimental setups and data collection techniques, novel benthic model developments and efforts addressing the implications of benthic-pelagic coupling at a shelf and basin scale. Contributions related to the following non-exhaustive list of sub-topics are particularly encouraged: lability of benthic organic matter, microscale interactions (e.g. microenvironments, burrows, cable bacteria), microphytobenthic primary production, experimental setups and novel data collection techniques (e.g. fixed benthic observatories, eddy-covariance applications), permeability spectrum, extreme and episodic events and ecosystem recovery, erodability and response to resuspension, diversity of benthic habitats.
Impact Ongoing collaboration. No specific outcome yet.
Start Year 2016
 
Description EGU General Assembly session on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling 
Organisation Dutch Research Council
Department Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Country Netherlands 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Co-organisation and co-chairing a session on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling at the annual EGU General Assembly.
Collaborator Contribution Co-organized a session on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling for the EGU General Assembly 2016.
Impact The session in 2016 was jointly organised and 18 abstracts were received. Due to high amount of total abstracts submitted to EGU and very tight schedule, the session was merged with another session, similar, but more general in scope: OS3.1/BG3.8 Ocean biogeochemistry: novel approaches and synthesis. Poster session on benthic-pelagic coupling had a separate subtitle in the programme. In 2017 the session became a part of a bigger session "Biogeochemistry of coastal seas and continental shelves". This effort is a part of on-going collaborative activities on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling research involving modelling, experimental and observational approaches.
Start Year 2015
 
Description EGU General Assembly session on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling 
Organisation Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
Department Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Country Germany 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Co-organisation and co-chairing a session on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling at the annual EGU General Assembly.
Collaborator Contribution Co-organized a session on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling for the EGU General Assembly 2016.
Impact The session in 2016 was jointly organised and 18 abstracts were received. Due to high amount of total abstracts submitted to EGU and very tight schedule, the session was merged with another session, similar, but more general in scope: OS3.1/BG3.8 Ocean biogeochemistry: novel approaches and synthesis. Poster session on benthic-pelagic coupling had a separate subtitle in the programme. In 2017 the session became a part of a bigger session "Biogeochemistry of coastal seas and continental shelves". This effort is a part of on-going collaborative activities on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling research involving modelling, experimental and observational approaches.
Start Year 2015
 
Description EGU General Assembly session on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling 
Organisation Italian National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS)
Country Italy 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Co-organisation and co-chairing a session on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling at the annual EGU General Assembly.
Collaborator Contribution Co-organized a session on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling for the EGU General Assembly 2016.
Impact The session in 2016 was jointly organised and 18 abstracts were received. Due to high amount of total abstracts submitted to EGU and very tight schedule, the session was merged with another session, similar, but more general in scope: OS3.1/BG3.8 Ocean biogeochemistry: novel approaches and synthesis. Poster session on benthic-pelagic coupling had a separate subtitle in the programme. In 2017 the session became a part of a bigger session "Biogeochemistry of coastal seas and continental shelves". This effort is a part of on-going collaborative activities on benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling research involving modelling, experimental and observational approaches.
Start Year 2015
 
Description EU network ReDEveloping Models of the European Marine Environment 
Organisation European Commission
Department Directorate-General for the Environment
Country Belgium 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Attend and present at annual meetings in Brussels to update the EU's Directorate-General for the Environment (DG ENV) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) on the latest developments in marine ecosystem modelling, where relevant for policy development.
Collaborator Contribution About 25 invited marine scientists across Europe participate and contribute in similar fashion.
Impact Meeting report; In-house modelling capability of DG ENV + JRC will be designed in part based on advances and tools presented at the network meetings. Disciplines: marine and freshwater science, socioeconomics, EU policy
Start Year 2016
 
Description EU network ReDEveloping Models of the European Marine Environment 
Organisation European Commission
Department Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Country European Union (EU) 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Attend and present at annual meetings in Brussels to update the EU's Directorate-General for the Environment (DG ENV) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) on the latest developments in marine ecosystem modelling, where relevant for policy development.
Collaborator Contribution About 25 invited marine scientists across Europe participate and contribute in similar fashion.
Impact Meeting report; In-house modelling capability of DG ENV + JRC will be designed in part based on advances and tools presented at the network meetings. Disciplines: marine and freshwater science, socioeconomics, EU policy
Start Year 2016
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Centre For Environment, Fisheries And Aquaculture Science
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Environment Agency
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Marine Biological Association
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation National Oceanography Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Natural Resources Wales
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description HBDSEG 
Organisation Seafish
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution I contribute to the evidence group by highlighting the type of evidences that the NERC research community, and in particular the marine modelling community, could provide and by sharing best practices and experience about modelling
Collaborator Contribution they provide a better understanding the requirements of policy makers and management agencies so that my current and future research can have stronger impact
Impact the collaboration is highly multidisciplinary, involving modellers, biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists
Start Year 2020
 
Description National Partnership for Ocean Prediction (NPOP). 
Organisation Centre For Environment, Fisheries And Aquaculture Science
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Launched in April 2107, The mission of the partnership is to develop and promote marine products and services, with a focus on national and public benefit. It member are PML, NOC, Cefas and UKMO. NPOP focuses on the integration of models, observations and scientific understanding, and how these can be used to produce good quality information and advice about the marine environment. The partnership itself does not provide services, but facilitates the partners to develop these services, and helps them to be used as widely as possible and to the best effect. PML works with the partnership to provide ecosystem models for the NW European shelf operational forecast system and with UKMO to further develop operational data assimilation. This is managed through a join position between to 2 organisations.
Collaborator Contribution Setting priorities for research and observation collection is key to the success of ocean prediction services. The National Partnership of Ocean Prediction has an important role in understanding and defining these priorities. Our activity groups provide the fora in which the work of the research community can be coordinated, to ensure we work in a complimentary way to maximise the impact of our research and services. They are also the route through which we can understand where the gaps in understanding, tools or observations lie. This informs our own priorities, as well as providing appropriate guidance for the observations community and others. The partnership provides a means of engaging with users so that they have a good understanding of the services we provide, and we have a good understanding of how we need to develop our services to meet their needs. As a partnership we look for funding to underpin the work needed to develop the services, and have a stronger, more coherent, voice than we do as individual groups.
Impact Annual science, meeting. development of a strategy for ocean forecasting.
Start Year 2016
 
Description National Partnership for Ocean Prediction (NPOP). 
Organisation Meteorological Office UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Launched in April 2107, The mission of the partnership is to develop and promote marine products and services, with a focus on national and public benefit. It member are PML, NOC, Cefas and UKMO. NPOP focuses on the integration of models, observations and scientific understanding, and how these can be used to produce good quality information and advice about the marine environment. The partnership itself does not provide services, but facilitates the partners to develop these services, and helps them to be used as widely as possible and to the best effect. PML works with the partnership to provide ecosystem models for the NW European shelf operational forecast system and with UKMO to further develop operational data assimilation. This is managed through a join position between to 2 organisations.
Collaborator Contribution Setting priorities for research and observation collection is key to the success of ocean prediction services. The National Partnership of Ocean Prediction has an important role in understanding and defining these priorities. Our activity groups provide the fora in which the work of the research community can be coordinated, to ensure we work in a complimentary way to maximise the impact of our research and services. They are also the route through which we can understand where the gaps in understanding, tools or observations lie. This informs our own priorities, as well as providing appropriate guidance for the observations community and others. The partnership provides a means of engaging with users so that they have a good understanding of the services we provide, and we have a good understanding of how we need to develop our services to meet their needs. As a partnership we look for funding to underpin the work needed to develop the services, and have a stronger, more coherent, voice than we do as individual groups.
Impact Annual science, meeting. development of a strategy for ocean forecasting.
Start Year 2016
 
Description National Partnership for Ocean Prediction (NPOP). 
Organisation National Oceanography Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Launched in April 2107, The mission of the partnership is to develop and promote marine products and services, with a focus on national and public benefit. It member are PML, NOC, Cefas and UKMO. NPOP focuses on the integration of models, observations and scientific understanding, and how these can be used to produce good quality information and advice about the marine environment. The partnership itself does not provide services, but facilitates the partners to develop these services, and helps them to be used as widely as possible and to the best effect. PML works with the partnership to provide ecosystem models for the NW European shelf operational forecast system and with UKMO to further develop operational data assimilation. This is managed through a join position between to 2 organisations.
Collaborator Contribution Setting priorities for research and observation collection is key to the success of ocean prediction services. The National Partnership of Ocean Prediction has an important role in understanding and defining these priorities. Our activity groups provide the fora in which the work of the research community can be coordinated, to ensure we work in a complimentary way to maximise the impact of our research and services. They are also the route through which we can understand where the gaps in understanding, tools or observations lie. This informs our own priorities, as well as providing appropriate guidance for the observations community and others. The partnership provides a means of engaging with users so that they have a good understanding of the services we provide, and we have a good understanding of how we need to develop our services to meet their needs. As a partnership we look for funding to underpin the work needed to develop the services, and have a stronger, more coherent, voice than we do as individual groups.
Impact Annual science, meeting. development of a strategy for ocean forecasting.
Start Year 2016
 
Description National Partnership for Ocean Prediction - NPOP 
Organisation Centre For Environment, Fisheries And Aquaculture Science
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution I lead the ecosystem models Action Group
Collaborator Contribution the partnership has the aim to promote the use of operational oceanography for marine and maritime policy, management and industries
Impact the partnership organised workshops, conferences and meeting with stakeholders. It is multidisciplnary, involving physical and biological oceanographer, ecosystem modeller, remote sensing scientists and data assimilation scientists
Start Year 2016
 
Description National Partnership for Ocean Prediction - NPOP 
Organisation Meteorological Office UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I lead the ecosystem models Action Group
Collaborator Contribution the partnership has the aim to promote the use of operational oceanography for marine and maritime policy, management and industries
Impact the partnership organised workshops, conferences and meeting with stakeholders. It is multidisciplnary, involving physical and biological oceanographer, ecosystem modeller, remote sensing scientists and data assimilation scientists
Start Year 2016
 
Description National Partnership for Ocean Prediction - NPOP 
Organisation National Oceanography Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I lead the ecosystem models Action Group
Collaborator Contribution the partnership has the aim to promote the use of operational oceanography for marine and maritime policy, management and industries
Impact the partnership organised workshops, conferences and meeting with stakeholders. It is multidisciplnary, involving physical and biological oceanographer, ecosystem modeller, remote sensing scientists and data assimilation scientists
Start Year 2016
 
Title ERSEM 
Description ERSEM: European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model For more information please visit http://ersem.com. Changes since 19.04: Harmonised and extended formulations for air-sea exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide - with thanks to Phil Wallhead @ NIVA Dissolution of benthic calcite is now dependent on saturation state (this was already the case for pelagic calcite) Fix to prevent spurious oxygen production under heavy deposition at the bed Compatibility with FABM 1.0 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Open Source License? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/record/4075284
 
Title ERSEM 
Description ERSEM: European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model For more information please visit https://ersem.com. Changes since 20.09: Updated documentation 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Open Source License? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/record/4075315
 
Title ERSEM 
Description ERSEM: European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model For more information please visit https://ersem.com. Changes since 20.09: Updated documentation 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Open Source License? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/record/4075283
 
Title ERSEM+N-Osmolytes 
Description ERSEM: European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model For more information please visit http://ersem.com. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Open Source License? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/record/4288841
 
Title ERSEM+N-Osmolytes 
Description ERSEM: European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model For more information please visit http://ersem.com. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Open Source License? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/record/4288840
 
Title FABM-Mizer 
Description This is a FABM port of Mizer with support for offline and online simulation of size structured fish communities and populations. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2021 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact This software was used to predict changes in fish stocks and catches under climate change for a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (chapter 4 in http://www.fao.org/3/I9705EN/i9705en.pdf). It also underpins new research in several national and international projects, including the NERC-funded GCRF project SOLSTICE (https://www.solstice-wio.org) and the EU Horizons 2020 projects COMFORT (https://comfort.w.uib.no) and Mission Atlantic (https://missionatlantic.eu). 
URL https://zenodo.org/record/4593395
 
Title FAMB ERSEM 
Description The Framework for Aquatic Biogeochemical Models (FABM): a Fortran 2003 programming framework for biogeochemical models of marine and freshwater systems. FABM enables complex biogeochemical models to be developed as sets of stand-alone, process-specific modules. These can be combined at runtime to create custom-tailored models. This approach has been adopted to implement several large ecosystem models in FABM, including ERSEM (marine), and AED and PCLake (freshwater). FABM has also been used to model suspended sediment and redox chemistry. FABM has been coupled to several hydrodynamic models, including GOTM, GETM, GLM, MOM4 and MOM5. It also comes with a stand-alone box model driver. FABM uses modern software standards: it is coded in object-oriented Fortran 2003, has a build system based on CMake, and uses YAML files for configuration. FABM makes it easy to partition complex biogeochemistry over many building blocks, called "model instances" in FABM. The fabm-ersem port currently makes everything that can be considered as "integral physical particle" a model instance. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2015 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact none as yet 
URL https://gitlab.ecosystem-modelling.pml.ac.uk/
 
Title Generic prokaryote 
Description A new formulation describing the metabolism of a generic, non photosynthetic prokaryote (bacteria and archaea) has been implemented in the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM). The new formulation implies that different metabolic pathways (aerobic heterotrophy, anaerobic heterotrophy and chemolithotrophy) act simultaneously. However, the relative magnitude of each pathway dynamically varies depending on the environmental conditions (i.e. O2 concentration, DOM and NH4). Thanks to this feature, the model is able to simulate in a dynamic way important processes such as denitrification, nitrification and N2O production. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2015 
Impact The new formulation substantially improves the representation of the nitrogen cycle in ERSEM 
 
Title Mixothrophy 
Description A new formulation describing mixotrophy has been implemented in the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM). The new model implies that mixotrophic plankton is able to select the most convenient feeding strategy (phototrophy or phagotrophy) depending on the availability of light, nutrients and potential prey (bacteria and small phytoplankton). 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact The new formulation will allow to test the importance of mixothrophy in the planktonic ecosystem and assess its impact on trophic fluxes and carbon export. 
 
Title Trait Explorer 
Description For many applications we need to know the traits of marine species. This is crucial for understanding ecosystem function and building ecosystem models. Unfortunately, while literature and online databases are replete with trait values, we are still a long way away from a complete characterization of every species. The Trait Explorer web service addresses this issue by estimating traits for any species, through a form of "automated expert judgement" that combines large datasets with published trait values and the latest taxonomic information. Its results account for taxonomic relationships between species (related species tend to have similar traits) and power law-like relationships between traits (e.g., organism mass is a good predictor for other size metrics and many physiological traits). 
Type Of Technology Webtool/Application 
Year Produced 2017 
Impact The Trait Explorer web service is used in the NERC/Defra Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry (SSB) programme and the Marine Ecosystem Research Programme (MERP) to estimate the size and carbon mass of a wide variety of marine species, which in turn is used for validation of model results, notably of the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM). 
URL http://www.marine-ecosystems.org.uk/Trait_Explorer
 
Title Trait Explorer extensions 
Description The Trait Explorer web service has been expanded with additional datasets and functionality, including the ability to estimate parameters of Dynamic Energy Budget models 
Type Of Technology Webtool/Application 
Year Produced 2017 
Impact In the first 10 months of availability (Jan-Oct 2017), the web service received more than 800 queries from 101 unique users from 20 different countries. 
URL http://www.marine-ecosystems.org.uk/Trait_Explorer
 
Description 2nd workshop of the EU Network of Experts for ReDEveloping Models of the European Marine Environment (MEME) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The second workshop of the 'Network of Experts for ReDeveloping Models of the European Marine Environment' was held on 22-23 March 2017 in Brussels, Belgium, jointly organized by DG Environment and DG JRC (Water and Marine Resources Unit) within the framework of the Administrative Arrangement (N110661/ENV.C.2/2016/733192) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MFSD). The aim of this workshop was to continue the information exchange between the Commission and marine modelling experts. Another important objective of this initiative is to narrow the gap between modellers and decision makers in order to better exploit the full utility of models. In this context, the workshop consisted of 17 presentations covering the wide use of marine ecosystem models to address several indicators of the MFSD in coastal zones and European regional seas, including assessment, indicator development and scenario building. The presentations dealt with (1) General lectures, (2) Eutrophication, (3) Hydrography, (4) Higher Trophic Levels and (5) Fish. The participants were invited to join the network informal 'Network of experts on the Modelling of the European Marine Environment (MEME)'. DG Environment and DG JRC emphasized the added value of a joint effort to further develop modelling capabilities with the objective of providing useful advice for policy makers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description ASLO Aquatic Sciences meeting, Hawaii 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentation at the ASLO Aquatic Sciences meeting, 26 Feb - 3 Mar 2017, Hawaii: "How to capture species succession and evolution in large-scale biogeochemical models?"

Abstract:
In nature, part of the impact of environmental change on ecosystem functioning is cushioned by changes in species composition and by genetic evolution: the community adapts. These responses can reduce the sensitivity of mass and energy fluxes to change - a key parameter in climate change research. The potential influence of these responses is greatest in the ocean, where the cycling of matter and energy is dominated by small, fast reproducing species. However, the models that routinely predict the response of marine systems to climate change do not describe species diversity and evolution in any detail, and are not easily amended to do so. Recent "trait-based" approaches provide a conceptual framework for the modelling of species diversity, but their present implementations remain computationally expensive and unsuitable for the dynamic introduction of new types, implicit in genetic evolution. I discuss how these problems can be addressed by leveraging concepts and methods from the field of "adaptive dynamics". By describing the intra- and interspecific diversity in terms of the distribution of a few key traits, the dynamic structure of the ecosystem can be modelled with a few variables. As shown with a canonical ecosystem model in a spatially resolved world ocean, this approach remains viable in the presence of advective and diffusive transport of biota, and smoothly incorporates genetic evolution as another source of biodiversity, linked to reproductive effort. These provide a starting point for the modelling of species diversity and evolution in computationally efficient manner.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Contribution to MERP newsletter: Trait Explorer 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Contributed news item describing the new Trait Explorer web service, http://www.marine-ecosystems.org.uk/Trait_Explorer
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Defra briefing to present outputs of Marine Ecosystems Reserach Programme 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Briefing to staff of UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, in order to show case policy-relevant outputs of the Marine Ecosystems Research Programme. Attended by 13 Defra staff, working on topics including marine evidence, fisheries, and marine protected areas. Presented spatially explicit fish projections for UK seas under scenarios for riverine nutrient reduction.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Dialogue on methods for ecology 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This dialogue aims to identify some crucial challenges in the area of micro- to macro ecology for the next 20 years as seen by biologists today, which may be tractable to a mathematical modelling approach. The aim is to have a series of short talks (12 minutes plus 3 minutes for questions) which summarise the sorts of data that are available in the different disciplines, how these can be linked to other types of datasets: what are the challenges and what are the gaps? Are we collecting the right sort of data. These will be followed by smaller discussion groups where we can focus on the detail: such as are we producing the right sort of data and how do we incorporate these multiple data sets into current models, do we need a new generation of models?
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description ERSEM workshop at AMEMR 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Workshop to teach student and senior scientist outside the modelling field how to use the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model. This covered how to set-up and run the model. Has well as how to use the model to test hypothesis regarding food-web and nutrient circulation or climate change impact.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description European Conference of Ecosystem Modelling 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Keynote talk on 'next generation ecosystem models'

Discussion on how to build models
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Filling the gaps for predicting the future 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Article in the Challenger Society magazine highlight the Marine Ecosystem Research Programme's activities and outcomes as the programme drew to a close. The 4 page article reached a wide audience of those interested in marine issues.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/oceanchallenge/2018_23_1.pdf
 
Description Guest speaker at the final workshop of the BlueBRIDGE project (EU Horizons 2020), Brussels, Belgium 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presented recent work on fish catch projections for a varied audience including academics and representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Marine Stewardship Council, the EU Copernicus program, the EC Directorate-General for Research, the EC Directorate-General for Environment and several SMEs.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.bluebridge-vres.eu/events/bluebridge-workshop-supporting-blue-growth-innovative-applicati...
 
Description ICES WGIPEM (working group in integration of physical and ecosystem models) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The presentation discussed linkage between lower trophic and higher trophic models and how these could be improved as well as accounting for additionnal species like jellyfish and their impact on ressource availability for fish and other higher trophic predators.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description ICES WGIPEM (working group on integration of physical and ecosystem models) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Expert working group on marine ecosystem modelling
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description ICES WGIPEM (working group on integration of physical and ecosystem models) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Specialist working group for improvement of marine ecosystem model and their implementation
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description ICES WGIPEM workshop. Held in Brest, France 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Workshop regarding progress in modelling of secondary trophic level and impact on lower trophic level
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description ICES-WGIPEM presentation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The presentation, titled "Modelling zooplankton - how and what can we do?" was given at the ICES Working Group on Integrated, Physical-biological and Ecosystem Modelling (WGIPEM). It highlighted the role of zooplankton and the necessity to further develop it's representation in ecosystem models to better characterise ecosystem state and the impact on things like fisheries capacity as it is an important food item for several fishes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description ICES/PICES 6th Zooplankton Symposium 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation titled "Stoichiometry and Microzooplankton: How one predator answer to food quality impacts the ecosystem around him" Highlighted work conducted and progress regarding zooplankton modelling to a panel of zooplankton specialist (both experimentalist and modellers) fuelling discussion on how to best progress in regard to zooplankton modelling.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://www.ices.dk/news-and-events/symposia/zp6/Pages/default.aspx
 
Description International Marine Science Communication Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The International Marine Science Communication Conference (CommOcean) brings together marine scientists, communication professionals, policy managers and private sector professional to discuss and share expertise on marine science communication. MERP Communications leader attended the conference to highlight the Programme, showing the recently made MERP video and discussing advancements in communication techniques and best practice through a series of hands-on workshops. This resulted in enhanced networking opportunities, closer links with NERC Press Office and plans for future collaborations for outreach products.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Invited oral presentation at Gordon Research Conference on Ocean Global Change Biology 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact On invitation by the conference organizing committee, I presented work on modelling adaptation and evolution of thermal tolerance in phytoplankton. This has led to several new contacts, some able to provide key new datasets. This has increased the likelihood of creating a high-impact publication about this work.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.grc.org/ocean-global-change-biology-conference/2018/
 
Description Invited seminar at Bristol University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited seminar presenting worked on zooplankton modelling and jellyfish
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Invited seminar at University of Reading 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Approxiamtely 40 undergraduate student listened to the seminar. Further the invitation lead to discussion with senior scientist within the university with invitation to participate in future research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Invited talk at Earth Science Research seminar at Plymouth University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Presentation "Modelling marine benthic ecosystems: from observing state to explaining function" presenting work on benthic modelling, including L4 benthic fauna modelling with FABM-ERSEM, modelling biodiversity and current issues and future challenges of benthic ecosystem modelling.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/whats-on/modelling-marine-benthic-ecosystems-from-observing-state-to-expl...
 
Description Joint MERP-SSB workshop on ERSEM development 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Joint Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry/Marine Ecosystem Research Program workshop on ERSEM development was held 24-25 November 2014. This workshop synchronized development efforts by partners developing ERSEM (PML, Cefas, NOC)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description MERP Newsletter series 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The MERP newsletter is sent out biannually and highlights the ongoing activities and achievements of the Programme. It is targeted not only at programme partners but at many external stakeholders and communication channels, such as the Marine Ripple Network.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015
URL http://us10.campaign-archive1.com/?u=0a1f17d91ab0b711be36f6f70&id=c546006116&e=dd5288513d
 
Description MERP Stakeholder Advisory Group Meeting: Addressing key policy questions to stakeholders 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact This workshop gathered MERP scientists with the stakeholder advisory group to share project outcomes and gather their feedback and comments on how to maximize broader dissemination with wider stakeholder communities. The meeting sparked interested discussion and keen interest for further follow up information and details on how to access more information. The stakeholder group also agreed to participate in the wider Stakeholder Symposium (to be held in April 2018) as panel members.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description MERP Stakeholder Symposium 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact In April 2018 MERP hosted a symposium for a broad range of stakeholders. Throughout the 4-year programme MERP has engaged actively with stakeholders including relevant marine policy formers, managers, regulators, NGOs, and industry. The Symposium was design to allow us to share with stakeholders across the UK how the advances made across MERP could support the broad management and sustainable use of the UK's marine environment.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description MERP stakeholder day and ASM 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Held a small demonstration stand for stakeholder to understand ERSEM (Stakeholder day)
Presentation of the zooplankton and jellyfish modelling work carried out in ERSEM (MERP ASM)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description MMO Science Alignment Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The aim of the workshop was to foster collaboration between academia and marine managers, developing both research projects and programmes to create excellent science that has maximum impact
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Marine Ecosytems Research Programme Briefing for Scottish Government 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Key representatives from MERP held a briefing with Scottish Government to discuss how MERP work may be of use to them. The meeting involved short presentations followed by feedback and discussion. The intended outcome was continued further engagement and follow up for further information on MERP.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Marine Management Organisation - 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentations and Discussions with the MMO on how our research can help address key policy needs.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Marine Management Organisation's Marine Science Alignment Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The Marine Management Organisation hosted this invitation-only workshop on 9th September 2015 in London, with the aim to provide a forum through which we can develop and enhance collaborations between academic researchers and the MMO with a view to building innovative research projects and programmes to make best use of government and European funding on science and marine management.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Marine ecology and ecosystem services 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact PML (and MERP) Scientist Stefanie Broszeit participated in the SoapBox Science day in Exeter City Centre. Together with some of Devon's leading female scientists Stefanie took to her soapbox to showcase science to the general public. She discussed her work on linking marine ecology to ecosystems services undertaken through the Marine Ecosystem Research Programme. This event engaged with broad spectrum of the general public.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Meeting between MERP and MMO 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact A meeting was organised to initiate closer working relationship between the MMO and MERP (both the whoel programme and the individual researchers), and to assist the MMO to develop closer working relationships with the academic community and a clearer line of sight between scientific research and management decisions. Following the meeting the MMO have continued to be engaged in MERP activities and are helping to support the overall impact on policy of the programme.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Modelling marine benthic ecosystems: from observing state to explaining function - an invited talk at University of Plymouth 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact I was invited to give a talk at University of Plymouth Earth Science Research Seminar on my work on benthic macrofauna modelling. The talk was well attended by ~100 people - undergraduate and postgraduate students, university stuff - mainly from School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. The talk was followed by a question session and a follow-up discussion on potential for further collaboration between PML modelling and University of Plymouth Earth Science.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description News article on PML website 'Filling the gaps in marine ecosystem research' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Online news article in line with a press release to publicise the start of the Marine Ecosystem Research Programme (MERP), jointly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The news article was intended to promote the new programme's innovative research with funders, partners, media, collaborators and beyond.

The news article extended the potential reach of the press release, raising the profile of the Marine Ecosystem Research Programme (MERP) with stakeholders, directing traffic to the new MERP website and generating interest in its strategic aims and outcomes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.pml.ac.uk/News/Filling_the_gaps_in_marine_ecosystem_research
 
Description Ocean Prediction Workshop 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I presented our advances in spatially explicit models of fish around the UK. Specifically, the focus was on our new ability to account for two-way feedbacks: fish grow by feeding on plankton, plankton decreases through fish predation. This presentation reached the core of the ocean modelling community in the UK (e..g, UK MetOffice, National Oceanography Centre). It has contributed to us being invited to participate in new proposals (e.g., a NERC large grant) involving hydrodynamic modelling, plankton and fish.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://oceanprediction.org/workshops/
 
Description Participation in the ICES WGBIODIV workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Discussion of how MERP work can contribute to the ongoing activities and recommendations of the ICES WGBIODIV workshop
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Press Release for the launch of a new open-source Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry programme 'ERSEM' model, as a modelling tool for the marine science community. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Press release to publicise the launch of a new open-source Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry programme-ERSEM model, as a modelling tool for the marine science community. This press release was intended to promote the new model to a varied audience including press, the marine science community, funders, colleagues, collaborators and the general public.

There are now 94 users of the ERSEM open access model worldwide.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.pml.ac.uk/News/New-modelling-tool-to-enhance-global-understanding
 
Description Press release 'Filling the gaps in marine ecosystem research' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Press release to publicise the start of the Marine Ecosystem Research Programme (MERP), jointly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The press release was intended to promote the new programme's innovative research with funders, partners, media, collaborators and beyond.

The press release raised the profile of the Marine Ecosystem Research Programme (MERP) with stakeholders and beyond, directing traffic to the new MERP website and generating interest in its strategic aims and outcomes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.pml.ac.uk/News/Filling_the_gaps_in_marine_ecosystem_research
 
Description Programme Stakeholder Advisory Group workshops 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Stakeholder Advisory Group was formed to advise on how to maximize the impact of the programme it includes members from industry, advisory bodies across the devolved administrations, ICES, Defra, NGO and others.
The group is helping to support the use of project outputs in policy and management.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description SSB workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Participants in the workshop got hand on experience with FABM-ERSEM, which provided them with a better understanding of the functioning of ecosystem model and how they can be used. This increased their interest in collaboration with the group for current or future projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description The NERC/Defra marine Ecosystems Research Programme 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact MERP Project Coordinator shared information about what MERP had achieved and promoted the Stakeholder Symposium which will be taking place in April 2018 amongst the wide range of stakeholders at the event. This drummed up good support and interest for the later symposium.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description UK Challenger Society Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Participants in your research and patient groups
Results and Impact 200 people attended a keynote talk on ecosystem modelling
Talk videoed and available on line

Invited to give seminars at BAS and UKMO
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description United Nations Ocean Conference - Partnership Dialogue 3 - Minimizing and addressing ocean acidification 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact PML Scientist participated sat on a panel discussion and presented/discussion work arising from the MERP programme. This allowed MERP to be highlight and discussed at a high-level meeting amongst a diverse community who may not otherwise have heard about the programme.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Work accepted for presentation at the EGU General Assembly 2019 (Modelling how environmental change a?ects benthic biodiversity with a biogeochemical model) by Dr. Jonathan Beecham 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Attendance al presentation of MERP work at the EGU 2019 by Jonathan Beecham.
The presentation is entitled "Modelling how environmental change a?ects benthic biodiversity with a biogeochemical model"
The EGU General Assembly 2019, taking place in Vienna (Austria) on 7-12 April 2019, will bring together geoscientists from all over the world to one meeting covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space sciences.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2019/EGU2019-15916.pdf
 
Description article for MERP newsletter 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Article on the modelling activity ongoing in the project.
After 1 month from publication I have been already contacted by JNCC with request of more information and collaboration
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.marine-ecosystems.org.uk/News/Identifying_impact_with_ERSEM.aspx
 
Description kick-off meeting for EU network ReDEveloping Models of the European Marine Environment 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The 'Kick-off workshop of the Network of Experts for ReDeveloping Models of the European Marine Environment. Eutrophication modelling and Descriptor 5 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive' was held on 20-21 January 2016 in Brussels, Belgium, jointly organized by DG Environment and DG JRC (IES -Water Resources Unit) within the framework of the Administrative Arrangement NoENV.C.2/2015/070201/705766 (Deliverable 2.2) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MFSD). The aim of this workshop was to learn about existing modelling work and to draw lessons for the build-up of the European modelling effort. In this context, the workshop consisted of 18 presentations on the use of marine ecosystem models to address indicators within the Eutrophication descriptor (D5) of the MFSD in coastal zones and European regional seas, including assessment, indicator development and scenario building. Some other descriptors were also covered by the presentations and discussions. The presentations dealt with (1) South European regional seas (Black and Mediterranean Seas), (2) Atlantic shelf areas, (3) North Sea and Baltic Sea and (4) General lectures. The workshop also served as the inception meeting of the newly created informal network of experts on the Modelling of the European Marine Environment (MEME). The participants were invited to join the network DG Environment and DG JRC emphasizing the added value of a joint effort to further develop modelling capabilities with the objective of providing useful advice for policy makers. This was well received by the attendants.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016