HexSim is a new spatially-explicit population model that simulates species and stressor interactions. The model is generic, and useful for a range of landscapes, life histories, and disturbance regimes. Populations are composed of individuals who can have multiple traits, the values of which can change randomly, or based on interactions with the environment, conspecifics, or members of other populations. Effects on individual vital rates or behaviors may vary depending on the particular combination of stressors that are encountered. This talk will illustrate the model’s unique features, and focus on how it can be used to explore population-level impacts of assumptions governing stressor interactions.
Results/Conclusions
Case studies illustrating complex ecological interactions will include environmental variability, disease, human disturbance, and intra-specific interactions. The examples presented will quantify the changes in population size, distribution, trait composition, and viability resulting from both solitary and interacting stressors.
