ECOSYSTEM MODELING OF THE RESETTLED MARITIME AREA OF THE BAY OF BENGAL, BANGLADESH THROUGH WELL-ADJUSTED ECOPATH APPROACH.

This study was selected to assemble the current information in order to establish a massbalanced ecosystem model within the resettled maritime limit zone of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh through ECOPATH approach covering over 90000 km². A total of 19 functional groups were considered demonstrating all trophic levels in the food web where the estimated trophic interactions between the groups were varied from 1 (primary producers and detritus) to 3.45 (sharks). The ecotrophic efficiency (EE) of most of the consumers was >0.80; indicating a largely exploited ecosystem and high energy transfer from lower to higher trophic levels. Moreover, the gross efficiency (0.0018) and transfer efficiency (11.12%) of the whole system symbolize the 'developing systems' with somewhat maturity. Ecosystem's overhead (64.6) and ascendancy (35.4) also designate the ecosystem's stability. Thus, this study concludes that the resettled maritime area of BoB reserves significant backup strength to face stress situations having capacity to rapid restoration to the original states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]