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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Ecosystem Ecology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1572355
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This study compared the characteristics of energy flow and food web structure in the Laizhou Bay ecosystem using the Ecopath model and linear inverse models enhanced by Monte Carlo methods coupled with a Markov Chain (LIM-MCMC), respectively, based on survey data collected in May, August, and November 2022. The ecosystem was divided into 22 functional groups with trophic levels ranging from 1.00 to 3.48 and a large proportion of predator groups. The Ecopath model estimated an overall energy transfer efficiency of 5.34%, with the detrital food chain exhibiting significantly higher energy transfer efficiency (6.73%) than the grazing food chain (5.31%). Energy flow paths in the LIM-MCMC model were classified into four primary routes, predominantly driven by respiration and the inflow of detritus at lower trophic levels, which accounted for 79.9% of the total energy flow in group a. The Ecopath model provided a connectance index of 0.30, a system omnivory index of 0.33, Finn's mean path length of 2.46, and Finn's cycle index of 8.18%, whereas the LIM-MCMC model produced an average path length of 2.78. Both models indicated a shorter food chain and low complexity of the food web. Total system throughput (TST) was estimated at 10,086.1 (Ecopath) and 10,968.0 t‧km -2 a -1 (LIM-MCMC), with total respiration and total flows into detritus accounting for 41.2% and 51.1% of TST, respectively. The total primary production to total respiration ratios were 1.40 (Ecopath) and 0.86 (LIM-MCMC). Despite consistent ecosystem parameters across both models-total consumption (4,407.7 t‧km -2 a -1 ), total primary production (3,606.4 t‧km - 2 a -1 ), and total biomas (151.0 t‧km -2 a -1 )-the Ecopath model suggested a relatively mature ecosystem, whereas the LIM-MCMC model indicated that this ecosystem was in an unstable developmental stage with low energy utilisation efficiency of primary productivity.
Keywords: Ecopath, LIM-MCMC, Laizhou bay, Energy flow, Food web structure
Received: 07 Feb 2025; Accepted: 26 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cui, Xu, Dong, Yang, Li, Zhang, Li, Lv, Li and Ren. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhonghua Ren, Ludong University, Yantai, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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