Objective
The study proposed here aims to understanding the functioning of the Black Sea ecosystem in terms of the "trophic cascade" control and "regime shift" mechanisms using retrospective data analysis and interdisciplinary modelling approach.
The main focus of the proposal is on understanding the long-term ecological changes within the pelagic interior Black Sea ecosystem during its transformation from the pre-eutrophication phase of the 1960s to the post-eutrophication phase of the 1990s.
It is devoted to model the structural changes took place in the Black Sea ecosystem under concurrent effects of climatic changes, anthropogenic nutrient enrichment, temporal outburst of gelatinous species, overexploitation of small pelagic stocks in terms of the identification of regime shifts, alternative states, and trophic controls.
The second objective is to elaborate individual role of each forcing mechanism on the structural changes of the Black Sea ecosystems, and predict its possible future states under some specific scenarios.
The proposed study integrates various aspects of physical oceanography, climate-change research, ocean biogeochemistry, fisheries oceanography, and therefore represents a truly multi-disciplinary research approach based on the analysis of avail able data and simulations.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata science
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesfisheries
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesoceanographyphysical oceanography
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeochemistrybiogeochemistry
Call for proposal
FP6-2005-MOBILITY-5
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