Single-Course Engelsk 5 ECTS

Coastal Ecological Modelling

Overall Course Objectives

The course provides an integrated understanding of the biogeochemical and ecological processes that govern coastal waterbodies and how we can use numerical models to investigate the relation between pressures and ecosystem health. Emphasis is placed on nutrient and oxygen dynamics, plankton community dynamics, sediment biogeochemistry and the benthic-pelagic coupling. A particular focus is on how human-induced pressures, including eutrophication and ecological restoration measures, can affect ecosystem state and function. Upon completion, the student will be able to develop, calibrate and analyze ecological models to assess water quality, ecosystem dynamics and restoration outcomes.

See course description in Danish

Explain the biological, physical, and chemical processes driving eutrophication, oxygen dynamics and the benthic-pelagic coupling in the coastal zone.
Describe and model biogeochemical cycles in the water column and sediments, including benthic nutrient fluxes and filter-feeding processes.
Construct and analyse a 1-dimensional model of a shallow coastal ecosystem.
Design and evaluate model scenarios addressing human-induced pressures and habitat restoration in a management context.
Formulate and test new ecological models or sub-models of processes relevant to the coastal zone.
Describe and model basic processes relevant for constructing box-type Nutrients-Plankton-Zooplankton-Detritus (NPZD) models.
Be able to convert between units in equations and parameters.
Discuss strengths and weaknesses of different ecological models, from NPZD models to fully coupled hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model systems .
Explain the use of coastal ecological models in current marine ecosystem management.

Coastal ecological modelling introduces the physical, chemical, and biological processes that shape coastal ecosystems and how these are influences by human activities and global change. It builds upon the fundamentals of physical, chemical, and biological oceanography applied in the specific context of the coastal zone. The course progress via parallel tracks of introduction to the different processes and the building and application of computational ecological models of coastal waters. In the first part, the student develops a 1-dimensional model of the water-column that resolves the dynamics of nutrients, plankton, detritus, oxygen, both in the water and in the sediment. The second part of the course applies a coupled 3D hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model of a shallow Danish fjord using the MIKE ECOLab professional modelling system (the course provides a license to MIKE). The MIKE model is used for model evaluation and exploring management and restoration measures by scenario analysis. The course concludes with the students developing their own projects related to coastal ecological modelling.

25303/25328, are an advantage but not a necessity.
Ability to program in Python, R, Matlab or an equivalent programming language.

Lectures, computational exercises and a project.