Using Gaming Technology to Explore and Visualize Management Impacts on Marine Ecosystems

Abstract

We have developed an approach that connects a complex and widely used scientific ecosystem modeling approach with a game engine for real-time communication and visualization of scientific results. The approach, OceanViz, focuses on communicating scientific data to non-scientific audiences to foster dialogue, offering experimental, immersive approaches to visualizing complex ecosystems whilst avoiding information overload. Within the context of ecosystem-based fisheries management, OceanViz can engage decision makers into the implicit operation of scientific software as an aid during the decision process, and it can be of direct use for public communication through appealing and informative visualizations. Beside a server-client architecture to centralize decision making around an ecosystem model, OceanViz includes an extensive visualization toolkit capable of accurately reflecting marine ecosystem changes through a simulated three-dimensional (3D) underwater environment. Here we outline the ideas and concepts that went into OceanViz, its implementation and its related challenges. We reflect on challenges to scientific visualization and communication as food-for-thought for the marine ecosystem modeling community and beyond.

New approaches to old problems: how to introduce ecosystem information into modern fisheries management advice

“…Some of these models explicitly incorporate the spatial dimension of the ecosystems and can visualise results as spatial maps that vary with time. This last point is particularly important as it does not only considers the spatial heterogeneity of the system but also it facilitates the communication of scientific results to a non-scientific audience (i.e., stakeholders and/or decision-makers) promoting a good dialogue and allowing intuitive visualisation of complexity without information overload (Piroddi et al, 2021;Steenbeek et al, 2021a).…”

Making spatial-temporal marine ecosystem modelling better – A perspective

“…Accessible information is key to good evidence-based decision making. While the framework proposed here would not automatically address communication and interpretation, it would directly address the need for reliable information sources that (i) do not require prohibitive resources to generate; (ii) meaningfully bridge disciplines and span socioecological systems; and (iii) allow for participatory modelling and coproduction of ocean solutions ( Steenbeek et al, 2021 , 2020 ).…”

Exploring multiple stressor effects with Ecopath, Ecosim, and Ecospace: Research designs, modeling techniques, and future directions

“…Involving local communities in modeling studies is practically feasible: EwE has been successfully used in the context of participatory workshops in other contexts (e.g., Pitcher et al, 2004;Bentley et al, 2019). Furthermore, communicating simulation results regarding future ecosystem condition to non-scientists is simplified by new visualization capabilities (Steenbeek et al, 2021b). Taken together, there is much room for advancing the integration of human dimensions into EwE-based human impact research by integrating ecosystem modeling with the development of comprehensive socioeconomic scenarios, environmental valuation methods, and community-based research.…”