|
Rubicon Research Repository >
Rubicon Foundation Archive >
American Academy of Underwater Sciences >
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6993
|
| Title: | Using SCUBA and Snorkeling Methods to Obtain Model Parameters for an Ecopath Network Model for Calabash Caye, Belize, Central America. |
| Authors: | Deehr, RA
Barry, DB
Chagaris, DD
Luczkovich, JJ |
| Keywords: | DIVING
Scientific Diving
free diving
SCUBA
Ecopath Network Model
food web model
visual survey
collection |
| Issue Date: | 2007 |
| Publisher: | American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) |
| Citation: | NW Pollock and JM Godfrey (Eds.) The Diving for Science…2007, Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS), Twenty-sixth annual Scientific Diving Symposium, University of Miami, Miami, FL. |
| Abstract: | We have been collecting biological data for the construction of a food web model of Calabash Caye, Belize using Ecopath with Ecosim software. Characterization of the mangrove, seagrass and coral reef environments surrounding Calabash Caye will provide baseline data for a network model of the trophic relationships in this area, which is currently being considered as a marine protected area. Our Ecopath model follows a previously published Puerto Rico – Virgin Islands 50-compartment model; 27 of the compartments represent fishes. The collection of fish biomass and abundance data was done using visual surveys with both SCUBA and snorkel. Important dietary information was gathered from fish collected by spearfishing, beach seine, gill nets and hook and line. Smaller benthic invertebrates were collected using a small suction dredge and larger invertebrates were counted along visual transects using SCUBA and snorkeling. Additional data for various compartments that were not sampled, including birds, phytoplankton, benthic autotrophs and detritus, come from other Belizean or Caribbean studies and literature values. Abundance and biomass of all compartments were determined and converted to g wet weight•m-2. Selected Ecopath outputs, such as effective trophic levels and mixed trophic impacts, allow us to gain insight into trophic structure and how changes in biomass travel through the food web to affect other species. The model will enable Belizean scientists and managers to monitor and formulate predictions about potential ecosystem changes that are associated with the marine reserve. |
| Description: | American Academy of Underwater Sciences (http://www.aaus.org/) |
| URI: | http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6993 |
| ISBN: | 0-9800423-1-3 |
| Appears in Collections: | American Academy of Underwater Sciences
|
Files in This Item:
| File |
Description |
Size | Format |
|---|
| AAUS_2007_7.pdf | | 568Kb | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
|
All items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved.
|
