An updated end-to-end ecosystem model of the Northern California Current reflecting ecosystem changes due to recent marine heatwaves
Fig 2
The EcoTran ecosystem model allows direct linking of physical oceanographic forcings to the food web model, which drives primary production and the transport of plankton, detritus, and nutrients across model domain boundaries. The currency of a time-dynamic EcoTran model (see Figs 9 and 10 for examples) is nitrogen input to the system as nitrate and ammonium at the base of the food web via upwelling and detritus remineralization by bacteria. The ecosystem model is driven by nutrient flux that is important for bottom-up food web processes using the coastal upwelling transport index (CUTI) [42]. The CUTI time series (in daily time steps) drives advection (red arrows) of nutrients across the shelf. Primary production is supported by nutrient uptake and, in turn, supports grazing and predation by higher trophic level groups and catch by fishing fleets. Adapted from Ruzicka et al., 2016 [33].