Sensitivity of Clam and Background Prey to Hypoxia under Predation

Both clams and background experienced mortality due to hypoxia according to Eqn (A.21) in which the most influential parameters are $\lambda_b$ and $\lambda_c$. Because this equation was determined using expert elicitation techniques, it seemed necessary to determine the extent to which both prey could be affected by a misspecification of these parameters. Thus, separate simulations were run in which each parameter was varied based on these parameter's posterior distributions (Borsuk et al. 2002): $\lambda_b=$ 1.24, 1.14, 1.04 (L.hr.mg$^{-1}$) and $\lambda_c=$ 0.425, 0.4, 0.375 (hr). The results indicated that decreasing $\lambda_b$ from the default value decreased clam biomass by $\approx$ 40 (g/m$^2$) and decreased background prey by $\approx$ 20 (g/m$^2$). Decreasing $\lambda_c$ had a smaller, but similar effects to $\lambda_b$. It is concluded that over the range of uncertainty in these parameters, the effects of a misspecification would be relatively minor on the overall levels of prey biomass.