TY  - JOUR
A1  - Grimm, Volker
A1  - Augusiak, Jacqueline
A1  - Focks, Andreas
A1  - Frank, Beatrice M.
A1  - Gabsi, Faten
A1  - Johnston, Alice S. A.
A1  - Liu, Chun
A1  - Martin, Benjamin T.
A1  - Meli, Mattia
A1  - Radchuk, Viktoriia
A1  - Thorbek, Pernille
A1  - Railsback, Steven Floyd
T1  - Towards better modelling and decision support: Documenting model development, testing, and analysis using TRACE
JF  - Ecological modelling : international journal on ecological modelling and engineering and systems ecolog
N2  - The potential of ecological models for supporting environmental decision making is increasingly acknowledged. However, it often remains unclear whether a model is realistic and reliable enough. Good practice for developing and testing ecological models has not yet been established. Therefore, TRACE, a general framework for documenting a model's rationale, design, and testing was recently suggested. Originally TRACE was aimed at documenting good modelling practice. However, the word 'documentation' does not convey TRACE's urgency. Therefore, we re-define TRACE as a tool for planning, performing, and documenting good modelling practice. TRACE documents should provide convincing evidence that a model was thoughtfully designed, correctly implemented, thoroughly tested, well understood, and appropriately used for its intended purpose. TRACE documents link the science underlying a model to its application, thereby also linking modellers and model users, for example stakeholders, decision makers, and developers of policies. We report on first experiences in producing TRACE documents. We found that the original idea underlying TRACE was valid, but to make its use more coherent and efficient, an update of its structure and more specific guidance for its use are needed. The updated TRACE format follows the recently developed framework of model 'evaludation': the entire process of establishing model quality and credibility throughout all stages of model development, analysis, and application. TRACE thus becomes a tool for planning, documenting, and assessing model evaludation, which includes understanding the rationale behind a model and its envisaged use. We introduce the new structure and revised terminology of TRACE and provide examples. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW  - Standardization
KW  - Good modelling practice
KW  - Risk assessment
KW  - Decision support
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2014.01.018
SN  - 0304-3800
SN  - 1872-7026
VL  - 280
SP  - 129
EP  - 139
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sibly, Richard M.
A1  - Grimm, Volker
A1  - Martin, Benjamin T.
A1  - Johnston, Alice S. A.
A1  - Kulakowska, Katarzyna
A1  - Topping, Christopher J.
A1  - Calow, Peter
A1  - Nabe-Nielsen, Jacob
A1  - Thorbek, Pernille
A1  - DeAngelis, Donald L.
T1  - Representing the acquisition and use of energy by individuals in agent-based models of animal populations
JF  - Methods in ecology and evolution : an official journal of the British Ecological Society
N2  - Agent-based models (ABMs) are widely used to predict how populations respond to changing environments. As the availability of food varies in space and time, individuals should have their own energy budgets, but there is no consensus as to how these should be modelled. Here, we use knowledge of physiological ecology to identify major issues confronting the modeller and to make recommendations about how energy budgets for use in ABMs should be constructed. Our proposal is that modelled animals forage as necessary to supply their energy needs for maintenance, growth and reproduction. If there is sufficient energy intake, an animal allocates the energy obtained in the order: maintenance, growth, reproduction, energy storage, until its energy stores reach an optimal level. If there is a shortfall, the priorities for maintenance and growth/reproduction remain the same until reserves fall to a critical threshold below which all are allocated to maintenance. Rates of ingestion and allocation depend on body mass and temperature. We make suggestions for how each of these processes should be modelled mathematically. Mortality rates vary with body mass and temperature according to known relationships, and these can be used to obtain estimates of background mortality rate. If parameter values cannot be obtained directly, then values may provisionally be obtained by parameter borrowing, pattern-oriented modelling, artificial evolution or from allometric equations. The development of ABMs incorporating individual energy budgets is essential for realistic modelling of populations affected by food availability. Such ABMs are already being used to guide conservation planning of nature reserves and shell fisheries, to assess environmental impacts of building proposals including wind farms and highways and to assess the effects on nontarget organisms of chemicals for the control of agricultural pests.
KW  - bioenergetics
KW  - energy budget
KW  - individual-based models
KW  - population dynamics
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.12002
SN  - 2041-210X
VL  - 4
IS  - 2
SP  - 151
EP  - 161
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -