Villy Christensen is an ecosystem modeller with a background in

fisheries science Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of limnology, oceanography, freshwater biology, marine biology, meteorology, conservation, ...

. He is known for his work as a project leader and core developer of

Ecopath Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) is a free and open source ecosystem modelling software suite, initially started at NOAA by Jeffrey Polovina, but has since primarily been developed at the formerly UBC Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbi ...

, an ecosystem modelling software system widely used in

fisheries management The goal of fisheries management is to produce sustainable biological, environmental and socioeconomic benefits from renewable aquatic resources. Wild fisheries are classified as renewable when the organisms of interest (e.g., fish, shellfish, ...

. Ecopath was initially an initiative of the NOAA, but since primarily developed at the

UBC Fisheries Centre The UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) is a research unit at the University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Co ...

of the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

. In 2007, it was named as one of the ten biggest scientific breakthroughs in NOAA’s 200-year history. The citation states that Ecopath “revolutionized scientists’ ability worldwide to understand complex marine ecosystems".

Biography

Christensen did his Ph.D under Sven Erik Jørgensen at

Copenhagen University The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

. Jeffrey Polovina initiated the Ecopath approach in the early 1980s. Christensen, along with

Daniel Pauly Daniel Pauly is a French-born marine biologist, well known for his work in studying human impacts on global fisheries and in 2020 was the most cited fisheries scientist in the world. He is a professor and the project leader of the Sea Around Us ...

and others, has been involved in the subsequent development of Ecopath since 1990. Christensen currently facilitates international workshops on Ecopath around the world. He is a professor at the

at the

, specialising in ecosystem modelling. His main project is with the Sea Around Us Project working on "database-driven ecosystem model construction", with the aim of using "global, spatial databases to parameterize, balance and fit ecosystem models".Dr Villy Christensen
UBC web site. Retrieved 17 June 2009. This work includes developing a dynamic exchange model of biomass over time in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

area, as well as how

marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conse ...

s can be optimally positioned. He is also director of the Lenfest Ocean Futures Project, where a visualization system is being developed to support decision making in ecosystem-based fisheries management. This system combines

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

, a 3D-gaming engine, with

.Ocean Summits and Virtual Fish: Games for a Sustainable Future
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Selected papers

* Wilson RW, Millero FJ, Taylor JR, Walsh PJ, Christensen V, Jennings S and Grosell M (2009
"Contribution of Fish to the Marine Inorganic Carbon Cycle"
''Science'', 323 (5912) 359-362. (This article provides a first estimate of global fish biomass) *

Pauly D Paul Michael DelVecchio Jr. (born July 5, 1980), known as Pauly D and DJ Pauly D, is an American television personality and DJ. He is best known for being a cast member of MTV's reality show '' Jersey Shore''. In 2011, he made a three-album d ...

, Christensen V, Dalsgaard J, Froese R and Torres F (1998
"Fishing down marine food webs"
''Science'', 279: 860-863. * Pauly D and Christensen V (1995
"Primary production required to sustain global fisheries"
''Nature'' 374(6519): 255-257. * Christensen V (1996) tp://ftp.fisheries.ubc.ca/v.christensen/Publications/Christensen_top_predators_RiFBaF_1996.pdf "Managing fisheries involving top predator and prey species components"Review in ''Fish Biology and Fisheries'', 6:417-442. (First published description of "

fishing down the food web Fishing down the food web is the process whereby fisheries in a given ecosystem, "having depleted the large predatory fish on top of the food web, turn to increasingly smaller species, finally ending up with previously spurned Forage fish, small f ...

" concept) * Christensen V (1995) tp://ftp.fisheries.ubc.ca/v.christensen/Publications/Christensen_Maturity_EM_1995.pdf "Ecosystem maturity - towards quantification"''Ecological Modelling'', 77: 3-32. * Christensen V and Pauly D (1992) tp://ftp.fisheries.ubc.ca/v.christensen/Publications/Christensen_EcopathII_EM1992.pdf "ECOPATH II - A software for balancing steady-state ecosystem models and calculating network characteristics"''Ecological Modelling'', 61:169-185. (Third-most cited paper in this journal)
Refereed publications

Non-refereed publications

Books and reports

Notes

External links

Dr Villy Christensen
UBC web site.
Animated documentary on Chesapeake Bay
NOAA. {{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen, Villy 20th-century Canadian zoologists Living people Fisheries scientists Year of birth missing (living people) University of British Columbia faculty 21st-century Canadian zoologists

Biography

Selected papers

See also

Notes

External links