Meta-X-Software for Metapopulation Viability Analysis: Software for Metapopulation Viability Analysis

by Frank, Karin; Lorek, Helmut; Sonnenschein, Michael; Wissel, Christian; Grimm, Volker

• ISBN13: 9783540441823
• ISBN10: 3540441824
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Meta-X is a user-friendly computer program that allows students, teachers, and researchers to perform a metapopulation viability analysis i.e. to assess the extinction risk of (meta)populations on discrete, partially isolated patches of habitat, in a comfortable way. The CD comes with an extensive handbook which explains the basic concept of the program and takes you on a guided tour through a model experiment. It further provides the necessary scientific background on both metapopulation dynamics and population viability analysis. A special feature of Meta-X is that it supports comparative analyses of alternative scenarios. This predestines Meta-X to serve as an aid for decision making in conservation management and landscape planning. Furthermore, handbook and software together provide an invaluable help in research and teaching.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(8)
What Is META-X?	1	(2)
Metapopulation	1	(1)
PVA	2	(1)
Ecological Models	3	(1)
What Is so Special About META-X?	3	(1)
In What Areas Can META-X Be Used?	4	(1)
In Teaching	4	(1)
In Empirical Research	4	(1)
In Biological Conservation and Planning	5	(1)
What Do You Need to Use META-X?	5	(1)
What Cannot Be Done with META-X?	6	(1)
News on META-X	6	(3)
Contents	9	(4)
Installation	13	(2)
Basic Concepts	15	(10)
The Model	15	(1)
Landscape Structure	15	(1)
Position of Patches	16	(1)
Initial Occupancy	16	(1)
Net of Connections	16	(1)
Patch Characteristics	16	(1)
Local Extinction Rate	16	(1)
Number of Emigrants	17	(1)
Number of Immigrants Needed	17	(1)
Spatial Processes	17	(1)
Dispersal	17	(1)
Correlated Extinctions	18	(1)
Simulation	18	(2)
Control Parameters	19	(1)
Interactive Simulations	19	(1)
Automatic Simulations	19	(1)
Evaluation	20	(1)
Organizing Projects	20	(2)
Scenarios	20	(1)
Experiments	21	(1)
Projects	21	(1)
The META-X Steps	22	(3)
Guided Tour	25	(28)
Your First META-X Experiment	25	(14)
Defining a New Project	25	(1)
Creating a New Project by Saving	26	(1)
Enter Project Documentation	27	(1)
Creating and Documenting Your First Experiment	28	(1)
Naming the Species and Delineating the Landscape	29	(1)
Defining Control Parameters	30	(1)
Scenario: Documentation and Defining the Landscape	30	(1)
Patch Characteristics	31	(2)
Connection Between Patches	33	(1)
Correlation Length	33	(1)
Dispersal Range	34	(1)
Main Model Parameters	35	(3)
Saving the Project to Your Hard Disk	38	(1)
Interactive Simulation	39	(8)
Choosing a Scenario	39	(2)
Interactive Simulation	41	(1)
Check Parameters	41	(1)
Pattern of Occupancy	42	(1)
Modifying the Scenario	43	(1)
Mean Time to Extinction	44	(2)
Adding a Second Scenario	46	(1)
Automatic Simulation	47	(1)
Evaluation	48	(3)
Generating a Report	51	(1)
Where Next?	51	(2)
The Project Tree	53	(8)
The Elements of the Project Tree	53	(3)
The Root of the Project Tree	53	(1)
The Experiments Branch	54	(1)
The Scenarios Branch	55	(1)
Working with the Project Tree	56	(5)
Working with Experiments	56	(2)
Working with Scenarios	58	(3)
Scenarios and Experiments	61	(14)
The Experiment Wizard	61	(3)
Compile Documentation	62	(1)
Specify the Species and the Study Area	63	(1)
Specify Control Parameters	63	(1)
Specify New Scenario (Based on ...)	63	(1)
Modify Existing Scenario	63	(1)
Complete Definition	64	(1)
The Scenario Wizard	64	(7)
Documentation of the Scenario	64	(1)
Number of Patches for a Scenario	65	(1)
Position of Patches	65	(1)
Patch Characteristics	66	(1)
Connection of Patches	66	(1)
Correlation Length	66	(1)
Correlation Length (Direct)	67	(1)
Correlation Length (Indirect)	67	(1)
Mean Dispersal Range	68	(1)
Mean Dispersal Range (Direct)	68	(1)
Mean Dispersal Range (Indirect)	68	(1)
Rates of Colonization	69	(1)
Main Model Parameters	70	(1)
Control Parameters for the Whole Experiment	70	(1)
End of the Scenario Specification	70	(1)
Homogeneous Parameters	71	(1)
User-Defined Scenarios and the Parameter Hierarchy of META-X	72	(3)
Submodels	72	(1)
The Standard Submodels of META-X	73	(1)
User-Defined	73	(1)
Parameter Hierarchy	73	(1)
Update Matrix: Warning Message	74	(1)
Simulation and Evaluation	75	(10)
Interactive Simulation	75	(5)
Metapopulation Dynamics	76	(1)
Recorded Data	77	(1)
Diagrams	77	(1)
Control Unit	77	(1)
Further Analysis -- FD	78	(1)
Further Analysis -- TM	78	(2)
Change Scenario	80	(1)
Simulation and Evaluation of Scenarios	80	(1)
Automatic Simulation	80	(1)
Evaluation	80	(1)
Simulation and Evaluation of Experiments	81	(4)
Select Experiments and Scenarios	81	(1)
Check Control Parameters	82	(1)
Batch Simulation	82	(1)
What to Evaluate?	82	(1)
Evaluation	83	(2)
The Landscape Editor	85	(10)
Elements of the Landscape Editor	85	(2)
Visualization	87	(2)
Modifying Existing Scenarios	89	(2)
Saving Your Work with the Apply Button	91	(1)
Creating New Scenarios	92	(3)
Parameter Variation	95	(6)
Variation Experiments	95	(4)
Creating Variation Experiments (1)	95	(2)
Creating Variation Experiments (2)	97	(1)
Modify Variation Experiments	98	(1)
Resetting Variation Experiments	98	(1)
Simulation, Evaluation and Reports	99	(2)
Import, Export and Report	101	(6)
Import of Model Parameters	101	(2)
Format of Import Files	102	(1)
Export of Simulation Results	103	(1)
Reports	104	(2)
Report of Scenarios	104	(1)
Report of Experiments	105	(1)
Report of Projects	106	(1)
Exporting Graphs to the Clipboard	106	(1)
Reference	107	(12)
The META-X Menu	107	(7)
The File Menu	108	(1)
The Edit Menu	109	(1)
The View Menu	110	(1)
The Experiment Menu	110	(1)
The Scenario Menu	110	(1)
The Parameter Variation Menu	111	(1)
The Editor Menu	111	(1)
The Tools Menu	112	(1)
The Window Menu	113	(1)
The Help Menu	114	(1)
Context Menus	114	(2)
Project Tree	114	(1)
Landscape Editor	115	(1)
Evaluation	116	(1)
Warning Messages	116	(3)
Scenario Wizard Warning Messages	117	(1)
Landscape Editor Warning Messages	117	(1)
Interactive Simulation Warning Messages	118	(1)
Goals, Methods, and Concepts of PVA	119	(22)
Introduction	119	(1)
Goals of PVA	119	(2)
Ecological Models for PVA	121	(1)
A Stochastic Example Model	122	(4)
1st Element: Demographic Noise	123	(1)
2nd Element: Environmental Noise	123	(1)
3rd Density Dependence	124	(1)
Implementing the Example Model	124	(1)
Results of the Example Model	125	(1)
Quantifying Persistence and Viability	126	(4)
Established Phase and Intrinsic Mean Time to Extinction	126	(1)
Persistence and Viability	127	(1)
The In(1-P0) plot	128	(2)
Dealing with Uncertainty	130	(1)
Relative Risk Assessment	130	(1)
Sensitivity Analysis	131	(1)
Overview of PVA Models	131	(1)
Potentials and Limitations of PVA	132	(1)
Metapopulation Viability Analysis	133	(2)
Alternatives to Tailored PVA Models	135	(1)
The Conception of META-X	136	(2)
Suggested Reading	138	(3)
Appendix: Technical Aspects of the In(1-P0) Plot	138	(3)
The META-X Model in Detail	141	(10)
Introduction	141	(1)
The Main Model	142	(2)
Local Extinction	142	(1)
Correlated Extinction	143	(1)
Recolonization	143	(1)
The Submodels Provided by META-X	144	(2)
A Submodel for the Degree of Correlation of Local Extinction	144	(1)
A Submodel for the Rate of Colonization	145	(1)
A Submodel for Reachability	146	(1)
Summary and Discussion	146	(5)
Appendix: the Simulation Algorithm	148	(3)
Parameterizing META-X	151	(10)
Introduction	151	(1)
General Concepts of Parameterization	151	(3)
Direct Parameterization of Main Model Parameters	151	(1)
Indirect Parameterization	152	(1)
Mechanistic Submodels	152	(1)
`Soft' Data, Empirical Knowledge and Hypotheses	153	(1)
Dealing with Uncertainty	154	(1)
Upper and Lower Boundaries	154	(1)
Scenarios	154	(1)
Parameter Variation	155	(1)
Some Specific Guidelines	155	(3)
Parameterizing the Landscape	155	(1)
Local Patch Characteristics	156	(1)
Correlated Extinctions	156	(1)
Colonization	157	(1)
Summary and Discussion	158	(3)
Appendix	159	(2)
Example Applications	161	(18)
Introduction	161	(1)
Examples of Theoretical Problems	161	(6)
Demonstrating and Analysing the Minimal Dispersal Range	162	(4)
Increasing the Number of Emigrants from a Certain Patch	166	(1)
Examples of PVA for Specific Metapopulations	167	(8)
Ecological Uncertainty and the Ranking of Management Options: the Butterfly Melitaea diamina	168	(4)
Metapopulation Scenarios of Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus in the Bavarian Alps	172	(3)
Example of Decision Support for Landscape Management	175	(2)
Summary	177	(2)
Glossary	179	(8)
References	187	(6)
Index	193