Ms. Ana Sofia de Carvalho Saraiva

Address: NIOZ - Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Dept. Marine Ecology, Texel, Nederland
Free University, Dept. Theoretical Biology, Amsterdam
Technical University of Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico, Dept. Mechanical Engineering, Lisboa, Portugal.
Phone:
Email: sofia.maretec@ist.utl.pt
Curriculum vitae
Specialization: Environmental Engineering
Project: Bottum-up versus top-down control in marine macrobenthos populations
Publications:

Modelling North Sea Benthic Fauna or Modelling benthic fauna in coastal and estuarine systems: North Sea

The objective of this doctoral program is to develop an individual-based population/community model of various North Sea benthic fauna species, which will subsequently be coupled to a 3D hydrodynamic/biogeochemical model. The main challenge lies in the design and implementation of a modelling tool which is able to simulate the main physical, chemical and biological processes occurring in coastal and estuarine systems, enabling to represent the systems' behaviour in different environmental scenarios and to be used as the base for an effective management tool of the system. The model should be robust enough in order to: (i) study the influence of different climate scenarios (in terms of temperature, wind/air pressure, fresh water and nutrients input, boundary conditions) in the production of different bivalve species; (ii) study the influence of bivalve activity in the water column biogeochemical dynamics. This work will be organized in the following main steps:
  1. Development of an individual based model for bivalves production
  2. Development of the population/community model
  3. Coupling to the 3D MOHID Water Modelling System
  4. Implementation of the model in a idealized schematic scenario
  5. Study the influence of abiotic factors in the production of different bivalve species
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