EcoFunMAP + PlanWise4Blue – MARBEFES Toolbox

Tools

Food-web-informed cumulative effects assessment to evaluate ecosystem functioning across human-use scenarios

The “Food-web-informed cumulative effects assessment to evaluate ecosystem functioning across human-use scenarios” method, introduced within the Horizon Europe project MARBEFES, is implemented through the integration of two digital tools: (1) EcoFunMAP (Food Web-based Ecosystem Functioning Mapping and Assessment Platform) and (2) the cumulative impact assessment tool PlanWise4Blue.

EcoFunMAP is a web-based application developed within MARBEFES that integrates bioenergetic food-web modelling with spatially explicit layers of species biomass to map indicators of food-web structure, stability, and functioning at scales relevant for marine spatial planning. By overlaying species distribution layers, EcoFunMAP reconstructs potential local communities, assembles the corresponding food webs, and leverages the fluxweb R package (among others) to estimate energy fluxes and derive key food-web and functioning metrics.

EcoFunMAP can be used as a standalone tool or coupled with PlanWise4Blue for scenario-based cumulative effect assessments. In the integrated workflow, PlanWise4Blue estimates scenario-specific biomass changes driven by human activities and associated pressures. These updated biomass layers are then integrated in EcoFunMAP to quantify how species-level changes propagate through trophic interactions, and to map resulting scenario-specific changes in food-web and functioning metrics.

Link

Tool details

Category:

Ecological

Subcategory:

Environmental risks & impacts, Ecosystem functioning & biodiversity

Tool Types:

Meta-analysis model, GIS, Map, Statistical model, Parametrized model, Numerical model, Modeling approaches

Input:

Scenario choices, Human pressures, Societal, Environmental data/variables, Physical, Abundance/biomass, Species data, Biological

Output:

Maps, Visual & spatial

Target User:

Policy advisors/makers, Practitioners, Researchers

Locations Tested:

Archipelago Sea

Level of uncertainty:

PlanWise4Blue provides error estimates. However, the integrated EcoFunMAP+PlanWise4Blue approach does not yet include uncertainty estimates. We are currently working to incorporate this component and are exploring the most appropriate methods for estimating and propagating uncertainty throughout the analytical workflow.

Technical details

Version:

1.0.0

Rights:

Open Access

Publication:

September 2025

Difficulty:

Moderate

Skill Required:

Moderate

Developer information

Authors:

Francisco R. Barboza, Marie C. Nordström, Ants Kaasik, Mihhail Fetissov, Jonne Kotta

Tool Contributors:

Project general coordinator:

Project Scientific manager:

Project Manager:

Citation

Kotta, J. et al. (2025). Assisting coastal and marine governance: Enhancing decision support through digital tools for cumulative impact assessment. Ocean and Society – DOI: 10.17645/oas.10300

Kotta, J. et al. (2020). Online tool to integrate evidence-based knowledge into cumulative effects assessments: Linking human pressures to multiple nature assets. Environmental Advances – DOI: 10.1016/j.envadv.2020.100026

Vaher, A. et al. (2022). Assessing cumulative impacts of human-induced pressures on reef and sandbank habitats and associated biotopes in the northeastern Baltic Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 183, 114042. – DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114042

TOOLBOX

Tools

Food-web-informed cumulative effects assessment to evaluate ecosystem functioning across human-use scenarios

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