Open Collections

Mathematical model of primary food web energetics in Howe Sound, British Columbia

University of British Columbia

Same of the philosophical aspects of modelling are discussed along with the importance of understanding primary marine food-web components. Howe Sound, a coastal embayment on the British Columbia coast, is examined as a base study area, and field sampling methods as well as laboratory techniques are summarized. The main body of the investigation involves the development of a mathematical description of phytoplankton population growth and distribution as a function of biological and physical circulation parameters in the sound. This is accomplished by dividing the sound into zones and modelling primary productivity as a result of certain key environmental forcing functions. Transport between zones is shown to affect spatial timing and distribution. Observed and predicted values of nutrients, temperature, extinction coefficients, zooplankton biomass, and phytoplankton productivity and biomass are compared as the model is refined. It is then used to simulate the effects of a delayed spring on productivity in Howe Sound, as well as to model growth in Indian /Arm, an adjacent embayment. Simulated annual productivity in Have Sound is 235, 316 and 384 gC‧m⁻²‧yr⁻¹ in the down inlet direction for the three model zones. With a delayed spring the values are reduced to 200, 308 and gC‧m⁻²‧yr⁻¹ and comparisons are made with observed data in Howe Sound in 1974 when poor spring weather conditions prevailed. In Indian Arm the model predicts a spatial productivity distribution of 318, 256 and 239 gC‧m⁻²‧yr⁻¹, values which agree with field observations of two workers. The general applicability of such models to complex ecosystems is discussed.

Thesis/Dissertation

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0100134

Master of Science - MSc

Science, Faculty of; Zoology, Department of

UBCV

DSpace