Ecosampler: A new approach to assessing parameter uncertainty in Ecopath with Ecosim

7 pages, 5 figures, supplementary data https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2018.06.004The widely used Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) food web modelling approach has been extended with a new module to measure the impact of input parameter sensitivity on its results. Ecosampler records samples – alternate mass-balanced parameter sets for a food web model – from the built-in Monte Carlo routine, and replays these samples through all of EwE modules and any loaded plug-in. Via Ecosampler, output variation due to base input parameter sensitivity can be captured, of any computational component including the temporal module Ecosim, the spatial–temporal module Ecospace, and plug-ins such as Ecological Network Analysis, Value Chain, and Ecological IndicatorsEcosampler was realized through funding from the European Commission through the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant Fellowships PCIG10-GA-2011-303534 to the BIOWEB project. This study is a contribution to the projects SafeNET (EU-DGMARE MARE/2014/41) and MERCES (European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme grant agreement No 689518). XC was supported by an IOLR scholarship under the DESSIM project (“A Decision Support System for the management of Israel’s Mediterranean Exclusive Economic Zone”)Peer Reviewe