Modélisation de la croissance de Ruditapes philippinarum dans un système expérimental

The growth of Ruditapes philippinarum was modeled with an energetic budget equation. Clams were fed with Skeletonema costatum in experimental units during 6 months. The filtration and respiration terms of the budget were depending on the temperature and the dry weight. The spawning effort was represented by an allometric relation derived from the experimental data. The model simulated the individual growth of the dry weight and of the shell converted into energy during the 6 months of the experiment. The results fitted well with the observations until the loss of energy due to the spawning. After that period the model overestimated the growth which was explained by another spawning loss not taken into account in the model and not noticeable with the sampling design. The model appeared precise enough to be coupled to a transport model explaining the spatial variability of food and growth in a further study