Abstract One of the most applied tools to create ecosystem models to support management decisions in the light of ecosystem-based fisheries management is Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE). Recently, its spatial routine Ecospace has evolved due to the addition of the Habitat Foraging Capacity Model (HFCM), a spatial-temporal dynamic niche model to drive the foraging capacity to distribute biomass over model grid cells. The HFCM allows for continuous implementation of externally derived habitat preference maps based on single species distribution models. So far, guidelines are lacking on how to best define habitat preferences for inclusion in process-oriented trophic modeling studies. As one of the first studies, we applied the newest Ecospace development to an existing EwE model of the southern North Sea with the aim to identify which definition of habitat preference leads to the best model fit. Another key aim of our study was to test for the sensitivity of implementing externally derived habitat preference maps within Ecospace to different time-scales (seasonal, yearly, multi-year, and static). For this purpose, generalized additive models (GAM) were fit to scientific survey data using either presence/absence or abundance as differing criteria of habitat preference. Our results show that Ecospace runs using habitat preference maps based on presence/absence data compared best to empirical data. The optimal time-scale for habitat updating differed for biomass and catch, but implementing variable habitats was generally superior to a static habitat representation. Our study hence highlights the importance of a sigmoidal representation of habitat (e.g. presence/absence) and variable habitat preferences (e.g. multi-year) when combining species distribution models with an ecosystem model. It demonstrates that the interpretation of habitat preference can have a major influence on the model fit and outcome.

中文翻译：

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在面向过程的生态模型中整合栖息地偏好的见解——北海南部的案例研究

摘要 根据基于生态系统的渔业管理，创建生态系统模型以支持管理决策的最常用工具之一是 Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE)。最近，由于增加了栖息地觅食能力模型 (HFCM)，它的空间常规生态空间已经发展，这是一种时空动态生态位模型，以驱动觅食能力在模型网格单元上分配生物量。HFCM 允许基于单一物种分布模型持续实施外部导出的栖息地偏好图。到目前为止，缺乏关于如何最好地定义栖息地偏好以纳入面向过程的营养建模研究的指南。作为最早的研究之一，我们将最新的生态空间开发应用于北海南部现有的 EwE 模型，目的是确定哪种栖息地偏好定义最适合模型。我们研究的另一个主要目的是测试在生态空间内实施外部衍生的栖息地偏好图对不同时间尺度（季节性、年度、多年和静态）的敏感性。为此，使用存在/不存在或丰度作为栖息地偏好的不同标准，将广义加性模型 (GAM) 拟合到科学调查数据中。我们的结果表明，与经验数据相比，生态空间使用基于存在/不存在数据的栖息地偏好图运行。栖息地更新的最佳时间尺度因生物量和产量而异，但实施可变栖息地通常优于静态栖息地表示。因此，我们的研究强调了在将物种分布模型与生态系统模型相结合时，栖息地（例如存在/不存在）和可变栖息地偏好（例如多年）的 sigmoid 表示的重要性。它表明栖息地偏好的解释可以对模型拟合和结果产生重大影响。