A simple biogeochemical model for estuaries with high sediment loads: Application to the Guadalquivir River (SW Iberia)

• Published in: Ecological Modelling
• Main Authors: Ruiz Segura, Javier, Macías, Diego, Losada, M. A., Díez-Minguito, Manuel, Prieto, Laura
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 2013
• Subjects: Iberia; Biogeochemical cycles; North-Atlantic; Light-limitation; Estuarine systems; Numerical modeling; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/101358; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.06.012

Estuaries are transition ecosystems connecting land and sea subjected to a large number of external forcings that make estuaries complex and highly variable. Models developed to simulate estuaries use to be also complex and, henceforth, difficult to constrain and parameterize. Here, we propose a simple biogeochemical model of the water column of temperate estuaries based on previously published, well-known models of marine pelagic ecosystems. This model has fewer parameters which are usually well constrained and is more easy to implement and analyze than more complex models. We demonstrate that this model setup could be satisfactorily used to simulate estuarine ecosystems if light availability (constrained by suspended material in the water column) is the main limitation of biological productivity. The proposed model can also be used to assess expected changes in the environmental status of such systems by anthropogenic activity or by climate change. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. This work was supported by the Spanish National Research ProjectCTM2011-22580 and by the Department of Innovation, Science and Business of the Andalusian Regional Government through the project P09-TEP-4630. D.M. was supported by a JaeDOC contract (#X0SC000087) of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). L.P. was funded by the Ramon y Cajal Program. Peer Reviewed