Subunit Meeting 5/27/15, End-to-End Ecosystem Models

Source: Fulton et al. 2010

The UM AFS Tidewater chapter student subunit met on May 27th to discuss a journal article from Dr. Elizabeth A. Fulton of CSIRO Marine Research in Tasmania Australia titled "Approaches to end-to-end ecosystem models" originally published online in the Journal of Marine Systems in January 2010.

The meeting opened with a discussion of our upcoming social event for Fishery Professionals in the D.C. area on June 18th at 5:00PM at Denizens Brewing Co. in Silver Spring, MD.  We hope to have a large showing from the Chesapeake Biological Laboratories and look forward to meeting other fisheries scientists next month!  Other upcoming events include the Bernie Fowler Wade-in on June 14th from 1:00-5:00 at Jefferson Patterson Park, and the ongoing seine survey conducted by the Secor lab.  Everyone from CBL is invited and encouraged to participate in both of these events.

In our discussion of the assigned paper, we noted how as fisheries scientists, we do not often consider the biogeochemical dynamics in our models.  But any ecosystem model is built on the underlying hydrodynamics and nutrient cycling and incorporating these aspects can help introduce complexity and specificity to the model.  When we assume that the population is intricately related to some secondary covariate, we can reduce the amount of data we need to collect, making these models even more feasible.

To implement these models effectively though, we should be wary of two things.  First, adding additional parameters may not necessarily lead to a "better" model.  We might be able to develop a model that matches the data to the letter, but it would then be unhelpful for making future projections nor would it be applicable for broader contexts.  Secondly, when we have models with this level of intricacy and this multitude of inputs, we need to make sure that we are asking the right questions and in the right way.

Satisfied with our comprehension of the paper, we discussed what we'd like to meet about next.  Ultimately, we agreed to read "Don't Be Such a Scientist" by Randy Olson.  At the end of the summer we will again re-convene and talk about how we can be better science communicators within our communities.