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Applying Multi-Region Input-Output Analysis to Marine Bioinvasions: A Scientific Paper of the Future in Progress
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  • Mimi Tzeng,
  • Manfred Lenzen,
  • Oliver Floerl,
  • Anastasija Zaiko
Mimi Tzeng
University of Auckland

Corresponding Author:mtze285@aucklanduni.ac.nz

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Manfred Lenzen
University of Sydney
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Oliver Floerl
Cawthron Institute
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Anastasija Zaiko
Cawthron Institute
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Abstract

The Scientific Paper of the Future (SPF) concept, initiated by the EarthCube OntoSoft Funded Project, encourages scientists to publish not only peer-reviewed journal articles, but also all associated data, software (data processing scripts), and computational workflows, in order to enable full science reproducibility. While the SPF concept was originally aimed at geoscientists, it can also be applied to interdisciplinary projects such as between ecology, economics, and maritime shipping. Multi-region input-output (MRIO) analysis is a method from economics for analyzing economic interdependencies between different regional entities. Entities can be countries, regions within a country, or groups of countries. MRIO can also be used to analyze other types of interdependencies, such as the environmental impact of one region’s activities on another. For this project, we use MRIO to analyze the global spread of marine non-indigenous species via cargo ships. Over 90% of global trade occurs by maritime shipping. Along with intended cargo, ships provide a means for marine organisms to move to locations beyond their natural ranges, mainly via hull fouling or in ballast tanks. These species can have harmful ecological and economic impacts at their destinations. By using MRIO to follow the imports and exports of commodities between countries, we can deduce the magnitude of seaborne trade connections based on physical volume of commodity traded, and therefore the magnitude and geographic distribution of marine biosecurity risk. MRIO model construction involved incorporating a diversity of data types from ecology, economics, and shipping, and has turned out to be a surprisingly complex endeavor. My poster will demonstrate the principles of an SPF by providing a diagram of the computational workflow involved in the model’s construction, including an explanation for each dataset incorporated into the model’s input parameters and each piece of software written to process the data and assemble and run the model.