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HexSim Networks: Spatial IBMs are no longer just for the birds
Citation:
Brookes, A., N. Schumaker, C. Jordan, AND M. Armour. HexSim Networks: Spatial IBMs are no longer just for the birds. SETAC, Orlando, FL, November 06 - 10, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
Researchers will now be able to create individual-based models that simulate aquatic populations that live in river networks. These models can have all the power of a HexSim terrestrial model. In addition, researchers may model the interactions between river networks and terrestrial landscapes, both through the populations contained with the terrestrial landscape and the river network, and the landscape and riverscape as well. SHC 1.61.5 Next generation tools
Description:
Legally protected animal populations are exposed to pesticides, the type and concentration of which vary extensively across space and time. Individuals from these populations are also simultaneously subjected to multiple other human-caused disturbance regimes such as landscape change, impacts from invasive species, and climate change. Our research community has relied heavily on models to quantify the impacts that pesticides have on wildlife, but to-date such models have dramatically simplified spatial structure and temporal dynamics, have had an organismal (not population) focus, and have ignored stressor interactions. While such simplifications have historically been born out of necessity, recent developments in simulation modeling are relaxing these constraints and changing what constitutes the “best available science”. HexSim (www.hexsim.net) was developed specifically to quantify the impacts of multiple interacting disturbance regimes on wildlife and plant populations and this model can incorporate as much or as little detail about the study system as desired, including species life-history information, the distribution of dynamic interacting stressors, and effects due to other species. HexSim has recently been extended to include a complete suite of tools for simulating populations in river networks, making it a suitable platform for evaluating the impacts of pesticides and other anthropogenic disturbances on aquatic populations. This presentation will provide an overview of HexSim, targeting a SETAC audience, and then introduce our new HexSim networks toolkit.