“Eco-evo” modeling
Coupling population dynamics, genomics and detailed environmental data into agent-based models to understand feedbacks between ecological and evolutionary processes (“eco-evo” dynamics). We have incorporated phenotypic plasticity into modeling software for stream systems and generated simulations for redband trout populations in central Idaho. Simulations model population distribution and abundance based on dynamic environmental parameters such as flow and temperature regimes over decadal time scales, survival and distribution based on genetic traits and plastic responses to encountered environment, and comparison of alternative scenarios predicts population responses to factors such as increasing temperature, changing flow regime, and watershed processes including simulated fire regime and riparian condition. We are currently using agent-based models to evaluate the genomic effects of hatcheries on salmon eco-evo dynamics in a separate project.
Publications
- Seaborn, Travis, Erin L. Landguth, and Christopher C. Caudill. 2023. “Simulating Plasticity as a Framework for Understanding Habitat Selection and Its Role in Adaptive Capacity and Extinction Risk through an Expansion of CDMetaPOP.” Molecular Ecology Resources 23 (6): 1458–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13799.
