Parallel simulation of individual-based, physiologically structured population models

Authored by S Ramachandramurthi, TG Hallam, JA Nichols

Date Published: 1997

DOI: 10.1016/s0895-7177(97)00094-0

Sponsors: United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) United States National Science Foundation (NSF)

Platforms: C

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Flow charts Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

A general scheme for parallel simulation of individual-based, structured population models is proposed. Algorithms are developed to simulate such models in a parallel computing environment. The simulation model consists of an individual model and a population model that incorporates the individual dynamics. The individual model is a continuous time representation of organism life history for growth with discrete allocations for reproductive processes. The population model is a continuous time simulation of a nonlinear partial differential equation of extended McKendrick-von Foerster-type. As a prototypical example, we show that a specific individual-based, physiologically structured model for Daphnia populations is well suited for parallelization, and significant speed-ups can be obtained by using efficient algorithms developed along our general scheme. Because the parallel algorithms are applicable to generic structured populations which are the foundation for populations in a more complex community or food-web model, parallel computation appears to be a valuable tool for ecological modeling and simulation.
Tags
Daphnia