Simulations of the Black Sea pelagic ecosystem by 1-D, vertically resolved, physical-biochemical models

The present paper summarizes the results of several simulations of the central Black Sea pelagic food web using three different 1-D, physical-biochemical, water column process models. The most simplified, five-compartment version is used to explore the robust biological features of the ecosystem and the role of upper-layer physics on the evolution of the euphotic zone biological processes. The other models, introducing additional biological complexities, show how these biologically structured models become more capable of simulating intensified subsurface summer production, more dynamic plankton structure arising after the increasing role of gelatinous carnivores in the ecosystem during the 1980s, and fairly sophisticated nitrogen cycling in the water column