ecotrophic
Ecotrophic, in ecological usage, primarily refers to ecotrophic efficiency (EE) within ecosystem energy-budget models, notably the Ecopath with Ecosim framework. The term describes the fraction of production of a trophic group that leaves that group to be used by other groups or exported from the system, rather than remaining within the group as biomass or being lost to respiration or other internal processes. In practical terms, EE_i is conceptualized as the portion of production of group i that is allocated to flows to higher trophic levels or to export.
In modeling terms, EE_i is often expressed as the ratio of the sum of energy flows from
Interpretation of EE values is straightforward: values range from 0 to 1. A high EE means most
Limitations include reliance on data quality, assumptions of steady-state or quasi-steady-state conditions, and the simplifications inherent