Libro de Resúmenes / Book of Abstracts (Español/English)

Resumenes 131
An age-structured finite element model for the population
dynamics of intertidal barnacles
The majority of marine species have a complex life cycle where the
adult phase is preceded by a planktonic larval phase that lives and feeds in
the coastal waters for a few days to a few months, depending on the
species [1]. The dynamics of the adult phase is strongly influenced by the
transport processes (advection and eddy diffusion) in the water column that
affect the planktonic larvae (pre-competency and competency stages). The
biological value of recognizing the correlation between transport processes
in the water and coastal recruitment motivates the development of models
for the population dynamics, which combine oceanographic and biological
processes.
In the work presented by Roughgarden et al. [1], and extended later
in [2, 3], the population dynamics of a marine organism that inhabits the
rocky intertidal zone of central California (Balanus glandula) was modeled
taking into account the upwelling event in the region. They used an one-
and two-dimensional standard finite difference numerical model to solve the
problem. More recently, Gaylor and Gaines [4] extended that work
introducing in the two-dimensional finite-difference model four simple
representations of circulation patterns associated with biogeographic
boundaries. They also included two additional age stages in the model.
In this work, the oceanographic processes are coupled with an agestructured
finite element model for barnacle Balanus glandula. Besides the
larval competency and pre-competency stages, the age-structured model
includes the non-reproducing juveniles and reproducing adults stages. The
two-dimensional finite element model proposed to solve this problem is a
next step toward linking populational dynamics models to numerical
circulation models. Besides introducing a more realistic life cycle, it uses an
accurate and stable finite element method for reaction-convection-diffusion
problems that allows flexibility in dealing with complex domains, boundary
conditions and it is easily combined with an adaptive mesh procedure. From
discrete data on the real velocity field, in this work also we develop a
consistent methodology for the representation of this field in the domain,
which is assimilated to the transport model previously developed [5]. These
features allow investigating how barnacle population might respond to a
variety of physical changes in the environment. Many scenarios are
simulated in order to demonstrate the features of the model (i. e., flow,
larval transport and adults dynamics).
Referencias
[1] J. Roughgarden, S. D. Gaines and H. P. Possingham, “Recruitment Dynamics
in Complex Life Cycles”, Science, v.241, p.1460-1466, 1988.
[2] H. P. Possingham and J. Roughgarden, “Spatial population dynamics of a
marine organism with a complex life cycle”, Ecology, v.71(3), p. 973-985, 1990.
[3] S. E. Alexander and J. Roughgarden, “Larval transport and population
dynamics of intertidal barnacles: a coupled benthic/oceanic model”, Ecological
Monographs, v.66(3), p.259-275, 1996.