Integrating slow and fast dynamics in a shallow water coastal lagoon

A three trophic level mathematical model of a shallow lagoon is presented. The model accounts for prey-predator relation between phytoplankton and zoo plankton and nutrients recycling performed by aerobic and anaerobic bacteri a; oxygen dynamics, organic matter and exchanges between water column and s ediment are modelled. The interactions with environmental forcing functions are also investigated. Parametric identification is performed through the formulation of two submodels on the basis of the turnover velocity of the b iotic variables. The analysis of real data relative to a lagoon situated in the middle Italy (the Caprolace lagoon) provide interesting experimental r esults. A more refined model has been constructed and tested on real data, to validate the performance of the adopted model on the available data.