Marine ecosystems are thought to be open and well connected over large distances,
but have you ever wondered why some species of plants and animals are found in one place but not the other?
Hi, my name is Siti and I’m a marine biologist with DHI in Singapore.
Today, we will be exploring how marine populations of plants and animals are connected,
and how DHI is helping resolve this issue
by combining our expertise in hydrodynamic modeling with biology and ecology.
The movement of plants and animals in the marine environment
is very strongly affected by hydrodynamics.
Hydrodynamics is the study of the forces exerted on or by water.
This includes things such as currents and waves.
Currents and waves in turn, act on marine organisms influencing how and where they move.
Plants and animals, such as the seagrass, and this anemone are known as sessile organisms.
This means that they cannot move.
However, most of these organism have a life history stage in which they are mobile,
which allows them to move in the water column
Corals, for example, produce tiny planktonic larvae,
whereas seagrass and mangroves produce seeds, reproductive fragments and propagules such as these,
which can disperse over large distances, depending on hydrodynamic conditions.
At DHI, we use information from our hydrodynamic models in MIKE Powered by DHI software
to understand how particles such as larvae, seeds and propagules, such as these, move in the water.
In order for the model to accurately portray dispersal in the real world,
we conduct detailed experiments and take measurements
on the movement and behaviour of these particles in the water.
The information collected is input into an Agent Based Model module within the MIKE Powered by DHI software, or ABM.
The ABM module is capable of simulating life history characteristics of the organism
such as how it behaves in water, its buoyancy, viability and rate of decay.
This allows us to accurately predict source and sink dynamics between habitats in different locations,
settlement success and contributions from neighbouring sites.
We have successfully applied Agent Based Modelling to simulate coral larvae dispersal in Singapore.
The results of the modelling highlighted areas that have good potential as sink sites
and contributed to formulating plans for Singapore’s first Marine Park at Sister’s Island.
Understanding marine connectivity is just one of the many applications of Agent Based Modelling.
There is great potential to use ABM in other scenarios,
such as modelling the foraging behaviour of marine animals
Ultimately, this helps us better understand, protect and manage our marine environments.
