This systematic review considers how water quality and aquatic ecology models represent the phosphorus cycle. Although the focus is on phosphorus, many of the observations and discussion points here relate to aquatic ecosystem models in general. The review considers how models compare across domains of application, the degree to which current models are fit for purpose, how to choose between mu...

1 Marine Research Centre, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Helsinki, Finland, 2 MariLim Aquatic Research GmbH, Schönkirchen, Germany, 3 European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Directorate for Sustainable Resources, D.2 Water and Marine Resources Unit, Ispra, Italy, 4 Bioscience, Aarhus University, Silkeborg, Denmark, 5 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lo...

Rates of deforestation in the Amazon region have been accelerating, but the quantity and timing of nutrient losses from forested and deforested ecosystems are poorly understood. This paper investigates the broad variation in soil properties of the Amazon Basin as they influence transfers of plant nutrients from the terrestrial biosphere to the atmosphere and the aquatic biosphere. The dominant ...

Invasions of ecosystems by non-indigenous species (NIS) are occurring at increasing rates globally (Gollasch, 2006; Ricciardi, 2007; Hulme, 2009). Proactive efforts to reduce invasions are the most cost-effective management option (e.g. Leung et al., 2002; Finnoff et al., 2007), although managers may be unwilling to ‘risk’ a preventative approach because of the high uncertainty inherent in prev...

The relationship between nutrients and spring ecosystem structure and function primarily focuses on the state-wide increase in spring nitrate concentrations derived from anthropogenic sources and the concurrent observed visual decline of these ecosystems. However, the apparent correlation between increased nitrate loading and declining aesthetic appearance of spring ecosystems has only anecdota...

The ocean’s biological diversity—its genetic resources, species, and ecosystems—provides immense benefits to the United States and to all of human society. Knowledge about these resources is still rudimentary; however, trends in the best studied species and ecosystems— commercially exploited fishes, protected marine mammals and turtles, and certain coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs— indic...

This contribution examines various flow measures based on analysis of 41 quantified models of trophic interactions in aquatic ecosystems. System productivity/biomass ratio is shown to relate to ecosystem maturity and to the degree of cycling in the systems. Distinct patterns or clusters are observed for different types of resource systems with respect to average path lengths and residence times...

In this paper, we explore different modeling scenarios for inducing process-based models from multiple data sets. Namely, when modeling ecosystems, environmentalists expect a single model structure to explain system behavior among different yearly seasons, while the values of the constant model parameters may vary from season to season. We confront this modeling scenario with several others cor...

The purpose of this introductory paper is simply to bring together in a general way some of the more important factors influencing riparian ecosystems. Riparii'.n ecosys­ tems are defined as those "on or by la."ld bordering a stream, lake, tidewater, or other body of water." Open water is the key to this definition and to the context of this paper. A riparian system is the interface between ter...

■ Abstract Mutualisms occur when interactions between species produce reciprocal benefits. However, the outcome of these interactions frequently shifts from positive, to neutral, to negative, depending on the environmental and community context, and indirect effects commonly produce unexpected mutualisms that have community-wide consequences. The dynamic, and context dependent, nature of mutual...