| Small pelagic fish show a general decrease in size and body condition over the past two decades in the North-East Atlantic. The underlying factors are still not well understood, however recent studies point to a bottom-up control. In order to understand how the environment impacts the main biological functions, i.e. growth, reproduction and maintenance, we adopted a bioenergetic modelling framework based on the Dynamic Energy Budget theory. To improve the robustness of our study, we chose a comparative approach between two species, Engraulis encrasicolus and Sardina pilchardus, both living in three areas, namely the English Channel, the Bay of Biscay and the Gulf of Lion. Our model is calibrated over the Bay of Biscay and then applied to the other areas,... |
