Acronym CODFUN
Category
Fisheries
Title The cod capelin interaction in the Barents Sea: spatial dynamics in predator prey overlap and functional response Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Edda Johannesen Coordinator email edda.johannesen@imr.no
Coordinator institution
IMR - Institute of Marine Research (Norway)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2015 End year 2019 Funding (€) € 801,435 Website https://prosjektbanken.forskningsradet.no/en/project/FORISS/243676?Kilde=FORISS&distribution=Ar&chart=bar&calcType=funding&Sprak=no&sortBy=date&sortOrder=desc&resultCount=30&offset=150&ProgAkt.3=NAERINGSPH-N%C3%A6rings-phd Summary Cod and capelin are abundant species with significant influence on the Barents Sea ecosystem dynamics and fisheries, as they form a tight trophic link and sustain large fisheries. In short-lived species like capelin, natural mortality caused by predation is high and variable, influencing optimal harvesting. However, in natural systems, predation mortality is difficult to quantify. The number of prey eaten by each predator, together with the abundance of predators and prey, determine natural mortality due to predation. In natural heterogenous environments, abundances of prey and predators vary locally. Therefore spatial overlap between prey and predators becomes a very important factor determining the probability of being eaten.
Ecological processes are typically scale dependent and predator-prey overlap may change depending on the scale of observation. By ignoring the local variation in overlap, or extrapolating across scales without accounting for spatial heterogeneity, the estimates of natural mortality at the population level may be biased.
In this project we propose to use a combination of state-of-the-art ecological statistical modelling, multi-scale retrospective analysis, and a small-scale field study to investigate the capelin-cod interaction at different spatial scales. In addition to an increased understanding of a fundamental Barents Sea ecosystem process, we expect to be able to use the results to improve the formulation of natural mortality included in the existing capelin assessment model for the Barents Sea.
Keywords
Stock assessment;
Fish biology;
Food web;
Fish;
Cod;
Marine Region
42
Barents Sea (27.I)
1
Marine Region Map
