 Cycling in ecosystems: An individual based approachC. Kazanci, L. Matamba and E.W. Tollner Ecological Modelling, 2009, vol. 220, issue 21, 2908-2914 Abstract: Cycling index is an important ecological indicator used in ecosystem analysis. The higher the cycling in an ecosystem, the higher the utilization of mass and energy within the system before it is lost due to respiration and other factors. For a stock-flow type ecosystem model at steady state, Finn’s cycling index (FCI) can be computed using simple matrix algebra. However, it is difficult to measure how well this index represents the actual cycling occurring in the system. In this paper, we study cycling in ecological networks using an individual based approach (particle tracking algorithm). This new simulation method provides access to the pathway data of individual particles that flow in the system, therefore one can quantify cycling using this pathway data quite literally. We used particle tracking simulations (PTS) to compute a cycling index using Finn’s idea of flux based cycling. Our simulation based results (using no matrix algebra) agree with Finn’s cycling index, verifying the accuracy of both the PTS, and the original linear algebraic formulation of FCI. Keywords: EcoNet; Ecological modeling; Cycling index; Network analysis; Simulation; Individual based; Flow analysis; Food web; Ecosystem modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:220:y:2009:i:21:p:2908-2914 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2008.09.013 Access Statistics for this article Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier |
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