DiverSea News - Collaborative model development underway
COLLABORATIVE MODEL DEVELOPMENT UNDERWAY TO DESCRIBE BIODIVERSITY CHANGES AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Researchers from three DiverSea partners came together on 2-3 September to work collaboratively on a system dynamics model based on the case study area of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and Athens University of Economics and Business Research Center (AUEB) were hosted by the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) at their premises in Antwerp Berchem.
Among the topics of the meeting was the finalization of a Causal Loop Diagram describing the DPSIR relationships (an acronym meaning driver, pressure, state, impact, response) governing biodiversity changes and ecosystem services of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc. The work especially focused on the Cycladic Islands, which are heavily affected by tourism.
The group also drafted a stock-flow model and identified important functions for its quantification based on DiverSea's generated data and historical sources. This part of the work drew on interactions with DiverSea's WP2 and WP3. Finally, a brainstorming session took place towards the MARBIOSE dashboard development, a key deliverable of the DiverSea project from WP4.
“We had a highly productive meeting, making important progress on the system dynamics model and laying the groundwork for the Dashboard. We look forward to building on these results at the upcoming Annual Meeting," said Ward Standaert, a researcher at VITO.
It was an exciting meeting, breakthrough work was completed, several ideas were exchanged, and a paper is being drafted and will be submitted in the coming weeks. The participants were Dr. Jean-Luc De Kok, Ward Standaert, and Dr. Karolien Vermeiren from VITO, Alice Guittard from AUEB and Asst. Prof. Savvas Genitsaris from NKUA.