COAT outlines food webs for two targeted regions of the Norwegian Arctic – low-arctic Varanger and high-arctic Svalbard – lump many of the species into functional groups and focus only key trophic links.
The two food webs are further divided in food web modules – 5 for Svalbard and 6 for Varanger. Each of the food web modules includes a subsets of strongly linked species (or functional groups/species assemblages) that have high climate sensitivity and key functions. Key functions can be either ecological and/or societal. Each module is named by one of it primary monitoring targets - often the one with the highest management relevance. Naturally, the different modules are linked in various ways and this is further specified in the conceptual models.