The DEBIB project: Dynamic Energy Budgets in Bivalves

The objective of the DEBIB project (Dynamic Energy Budgets in Bivalves) was to combine the French expertise of bivalve ecophysiology and modelling with the Dutch expertise in ecology and modelling to achieve the development of a general framework based on Dynamic Energy Budgets [Kooijman, S.A.L.M., 2000. Dynamic Energy and Mass Budgets in Biological Systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge] for the analysis of the functioning of bivalve species (growth, reproduction) in relation to the environmental conditions (water temperature, food conditions). The collaboration has yielded promising insights for studying life strategies of different bivalve species sharing the same resources and new perspectives (i) for coupling ecophysiological models with population dynamics and ecosystem approaches and (ii) for addressing important issues such as carrying capacity, trophic interactions between bivalves and sustainability of shellfish resources. Fields for future research include improvement of parameter estimation procedures and analysis of intraspecies variability in parameters.