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Title:	TernCOLONY 1.0 Model Description
Authors:	Lang, Railsback, and Associates. American Bird Conservancy. Dredging Operations Technical Support Program (U.S.) Dredging Operations and Environmental Research Program (U.S.) Lott, Casey A. Railsback, Steven F. Sheppard, Colin.
Keywords:	Least Tern TernCOLONY Least Tern Reproduction Habitat and flow datasets ODD protocol for models Reproduction model Computer programs Dredging Operations and Technical Support
Publisher:	Environmental Laboratory (U.S.) Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.:	ERDC/EL CR ; 12-3.
Description:	Contract Report Abstract: TernCOLONY is an individual-based model of Least Tern reproduction. The model simulates the reproduction of all individuals within virtual Least Tern breeding populations on large rivers below multi-purpose dams. Breeding seasons are simulated in daily time steps. Users may specify different habitat inputs, representing excellent and degraded nesting habitat conditions. After choosing baseline habitat conditions for simulations, users may choose to add “restoration” sandbars to simulations to understand how different scenarios of habitat creation may affect regional reproduction. In addition to specifying habitat conditions, users may specify a range of daily flow inputs (simulating reservoir operations during wet years, dry years, or years with mid-season floods). Users may also specify a range of predator and human disturbance intensities or initial tern population sizes. By repetitively simulating different scenarios of initial conditions, users may learn if and how different factors limit regional Least Tern reproduction or how alternative management strategies may perform to increase reproduction. This document, the model description, is the first in a series of publications that describe the TernCOLONY model. The TernCOLONY model description follows the “ODD” (Objectives, Design Concepts, and Details) protocol of Grimm et al. (2006) as updated by Grimm et al. (2010) for describing individual-based models. This protocol starts with general and conceptual characteristics (sections 2-5); followed by the detail needed to make the model reproducible (sections 6-8). Full context for the model development, testing, and analysis process is given in Lott et al. (2012a), which also contains sections describing major model inputs (e.g., habitat and flow datasets) for specific study sites. Most users will access TernCOLONY via the web-based graphical user interface located at http://www.leasttern.org. The model description provides the foundation upon which all subsequent publications related to TernCOLONY will rely.
Rights:	Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/11681/2905
Appears in Collections:	Contract Report