GREAT BAY ESTUARINE MODEL

Eelgrass in the Great Bay Estuary was modeled under using a hierarchical multi-level modeling approach (model overview image) that examined eelgrass ecology at different levels of detail. The multiple levels of investigation included:

• simulations of the production of leaf growth and leaf length
  
• the growth of individual shoots and connected root systems
  
• population growth with vegetative branching and new shoot production influenced by light and nutrients and water turbidity
  
• community-level modeling with interactions of water quality, eelgrass, epiphytes, consumers, the macroalgal community, and the eelgrass wasting disease
  
• a spatial ecosystem level model incorporating interactions of eelgrass growth, population dynamics, and environmental variability.

The goal of these modeling efforts was to provide the basis for modeling of spatial changes in eelgrass habitats.