Model files for the benthic species model

This repository includes the model files used in the publication of Brückner et al. 2021 - "Benthic species as mud patrol‐modelled effects of bioturbators and biofilms on large‐scale estuarine mud and morphology" doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5080.
The files contain the initial model domain used in the Delft3D model and the associated Delft3D files. More information about the data and its content can be found in readme.txt. Contact person is Muriel Brückner - Researcher - M.Bruckner@exeter.ac.uk.

Abstract study:

Sediment-stabilizing and -destabilizing organisms, i.e. microphytobenthos (biofilms) and macrozoobenthos (bioturbators), affect the erodibility of muddy sediments, potentially altering large-scale estuarine morphology. Using a novel eco-morphodynamic model of an idealized estuary, we investigate eco-engineering effects of microphytobenthos and two macrozoobenthic bioturbators. Local mud erodibility is based on species pattern predicted through hydrodynamics, soil mud content, competition and grazing.

Mud resuspension and export is enhanced under bioturbation and prevented under biostabilization through respective exposure and protection of the supra- and intertidal. Bioturbation decreases mud thickness and bed elevations, which increases net mud fluxes. Microphytobenthos reduces erosion, leading to a local mud increase of intertidal sediments.

In multi-species scenarios, an effective mud-prone bioturbator strongly alters morphology, exceeding that of a more abundant sand-prone moderate species, showing that morphological change depends on species traits as opposed to abundance. Altering their habitat, the effective mud-prone bioturbator facilitates expansion of the sand-prone moderate bioturbator. Grazing and species competition favor species distributions of dominant bioturbators. Consequently, eco-engineering affects habitat conditions while species interactions determine species dominance.

Our results show that eco-engineering species determine the mud content of the estuary, which suggests large effects on the morphology of estuaries with aggravating habitat degradation.