LIFECO: LInking hydrographic Frontal activity to ECOsystem dynamics in the North Sea and Skagerrak: Importance to Fish Stock recruitment

Aggregations of planktivorous and piscivorous fish species in frontal environments are common occurrences in the marine environment. A key objective in this programme is to resolve the impact of predation on the abundance of zooplankton as well as larval and early juvenile fish by planktivorous and piscivorous predators in frontal regions relative to stratified non-frontal regimes. Estimates of consumption rates and predatory impact will be obtained on basis of a multi-disciplinary field programme covering different hydrographic regimes via the analysis of stomach contents and the utilization of food web biomarkers.

Estimates of mortality rates will then be developed based on the observed distributions and abundance of different species relative to water column characteristics during cruise programmes. The ecosystem approach required to address the primary goals of the programme necessitates the utilization and integration of a multi-disciplinary research strategy. Hence, the programme has been divided into 9 workpackages: 1) Advancement of hydrodynamic models: Resolution of frontal variability and key forcing processes. 2) Coupled Bio-modelling: Simulation of lower trophic level dynamics 3) Remote Sensing of Frontal Regimes 4) Distribution and abundance of plankton and fish relative frontal processes. 5) Effects of frontal processes in the plankton: resource controls and trophic interactions 6) Predatory interaction between fish species and top-down control of zooplankton relative to frontal processes. 7) Database assembly 8) GIS and Spatial Data Analysis 9) Synthesis, scenario and hypothesis testing