Mass-Balance Eastern Bering Sea Shelf ECOPATH Model 1

Although many of mass-balance food web models were done in the past for the Alaska region, the most up-to-date published model is Trites et al. (1999) for the Eastern Bering Sea. These models are highly aggregated over age groups and species groups and best highlight our gaps in understanding of how ecosystems function and our lack of data on certain ecosystem components. Walleye pollock is broken into two biomass groups: pollock ages 0-1 and pollock age 2 and older. The model is useful for testing ecosystem hypotheses about bottom-up and top-down forcing and to examine system level properties and energy flow among trophic levels. The Eastern Bering Sea model extent includes the main shelf and slope areas north to about 61°N and excludes near-shore processes and ecosystem groups. [ Reference: PICES Scientific Report No. 18 2001, Proceedings of the PICES/CoML/IPRC Workshop on "Impact of Climate Variability on Observation and Prediction of Ecosystem and Biodiversity Changes in the North Pacific", http://www.pices.int/publications/scientific_reports/Report18/default.aspx. ] Deposited content: descriptive metadata only; underlying research data are not included.