Capacité trophique du bassin de Marennes-Oléron: Couplage d'un modèle de transport particulaire et d'un modèle de croissance de l'huître Crassostrea gigas

Abstract

The trophic relationship between a population of cultivated oysters and potential food was modeled in Marennes-Oléron Bay. Coupling the transport process of particulate matter with assimilation by a population of oysters was achieved through a box model. Transport between boxes was based on a mass conservation equation. Parameters were derived from volumes of the boxes, tidal movements and residual flows between boxes, and were computed from a numerical hydrodynamical model. Consumption, assimilation and respiration terms were put into an energetic budget equation which enabled simulation of growth. A result of the model was the variability of growth along an axis fromNorth to South, which was related to the oysters' accumulated consumption of food. Finally, furtherdevelopment of the model was shown to be necessary in order to be more realistic and predictive.Primary production and resuspension of sediment must be taken into account. © 1989 IFREMER-Gauthier-Villars.