Standard Presentation (15 mins) Australian Marine Sciences Association 2022

Marine plant dispersal and connectivity measures differ in their sensitivity to biophysical model parameters (#446)

Jodie Schlaefer 1 2 3 , Alexandra Carter 4 , Severine Choukroun 2 , Rob Coles 4 , Kay Critchell 5 , Jonathan Lambrechts 6 , Michael Rasheed 4 7 , Samantha Tol 4 , Alana Grech 2
  1. CSIRO, Hobart, TASMANIA, Australia
  2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
  3. Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
  4. TropWATER (Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research), James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
  5. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  6. Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering, Universit ́e Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
  7. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Biophysical models simulate dispersal and connectivity in marine environments by combining numerical models that represent water circulation with biological parameters that define the attributes of species. The effects of parameters, such as the number of particles released to simulate the trajectories of individual organisms, is potentially large but rarely tested. We present a framework to measure the optimal number of particles required to capture variability in dispersal and connectivity of the marine plants, seagrasses. We found that the number of optimal release particles per element (or grid cell) for dispersal estimates varied with seagrass habitat type, season, and physical parameters of the modelled propagules (i.e., wind drag). Connectivity metrics were comparatively much less sensitive, requiring lower particle numbers to achieve stable results. We provide guidance on important factors to consider when determining the optimal number of particles required to robustly predict dispersal and connectivity in biophysical models of marine plants.