2005, ABPmer, Marine Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (MALSF), Coupling physical and ecological models

The objective of this study is to develop a new approach to predicting the impacts of aggregate extraction on the benthic environment. More specifically, the approach models the complex biological responses of recolonisation and recoverability to the physical processes associated with extraction activities. The research is intended to improve current assessment methods and provide new insights into the current state of knowledge. The project couples information on the recoverability and recolonisation of benthic organisms with physical process models. This is achieved using a cellular automata model that will predict the spatial and long-term dynamics between seabed alteration/transport and species recoverability.