Simple energy balance model of a planet with albedo, ocean, and atmosphere.

This is a simulation that represents the populations of lions in the world over the last 200 years.

The time-variable solution to a step-function change in inflow concentration for an ideal, completely mixed lake.

How the 4-H club became a marketing thingy for DuPont

Our final beer game!

Interplay between wolves eating sheep and farmers killing wolves.

Primitives for Watershed modeling project. Click Clone Insight at the top right to make a copy that you can edit.

The converter in this file contains precipitation for Phoenix only.

Simple model to illustrate Michaelis-Menten equation for nutrient uptake by phytoplankton.

The equation is:

P = Ppot S / (Ks + S)

Where:

P: Nutrient-limited production (e.g. d-1, or mg C m-2 d-1)
Ppot: Potential production (same units as P)
S: Nutrient concentation (e.g. umol N L-1)
Ks: Half saturation constant for nutrient (same units as S)

The model contains no state variables, just illustrates the rate of production, by making the value of S equal to the timestep (in days). Move the slider to the left for more pronounced hyperbolic response, to the right for linear response.

Simple (Kind of) food web of the Cane Toad Species. Includes different levels of consumers including predators.

Diagrams modified from article

Working Draft of a model to simulate the effect on ecosystem service values of planting 10 billion oysters in the Chesapeake Bay by the year 2025.

A simple model for breeding plants from generation to generation, with one "yield" variable (e.g. height) and 4 combinations of plants from the parents. Simulation tracks the frequencies of each combination in each generation as well as the overall average height by generation.

Interplay between wolves eating sheep and farmers killing wolves.

This story presents a conceptual model of nitrogen cycling in a dune-lake system in the Northland region of New Zealand. It is based on the concept of a stock and flow diagram. Each orange ellipse represents an input, while each blue box represents a stock. Each arrow represents a flow. A flow involves a loss from the stock at which it starts and an addition to the stock at which it ends.

A storytelling of the nitrogen cycle.

Primary production model with phytoplankton as a state variable, force by light and nutrients. Model expanded to include bivalves.

DRAFT conceptual model of climate change connections in Yamuna river project.

This model implements the one-dimensional version of the advection-dispersion equation for an estuary. The equation is:

dS/dt = (1/A)d(QS)/dx - (1/A)d(EA)/dx(dS/dx) (Eq. 1)

Where S: salinity (or any other constituent such as chlorophyll or dissolved oxygen), (e.g. kg m-3); t: time (s); A: cross-sectional area (m2); Q: river flow (m3 s-1); x: length of box (m); E: dispersion coefficient (m2 s-1).

For a given length delta x, Adx = V, the box volume. For a set value of Q, the equation becomes:

VdS/dt = QdS - (d(EA)/dx) dS (Eq. 2)

EA/x, i.e. (m2 X m2) / (m s) = E(b), the bulk dispersion coefficient, units in m3 s-1, i.e. a flow, equivalent to Q

At steady state, dS/dt = 0, therefore we can rewrite Eq. 2 for one estuarine box as:

Q(Sr-Se)=E(b)r,e(Sr-Se)-E(b)e,s(Se-Ss) (Eq. 3)

Where Sr: river salinity (=0), Se: mean estuary salinity; Ss: mean ocean salinity

E(b)r,e: dispersion coefficient between river and estuary, and E(b)e,s: dispersion coefficient between the estuary and ocean.

By definition the value of E(b)r,e is zero, otherwise we are not at the head (upstream limit of salt intrusion) of the estuary. Likewise Sr is zero, otherwise we're not in the river. Therefore:

QSe=E(b)e,s(Se-Ss) (Eq. 4)

At steady state

E(b)e,s = QSe/(Se-Ss) (Eq 5)

The longitudinal dispersion simulates the turbulent mixiing of water in the estuary during flood and ebb, which supplies salt water to the estuary on the flood tide, and make the sea a little more brackish on the ebb.

You can use the upper slider to turn off dispersion (set to zero), and see that if the tidal wave did not mix with the estuary water due to turbulence, the estuary would quickly become a freshwater system.

The lower slider allows you to simulate a variable river flow, and understand how dispersion compensates for changes in freshwater input.

The time-variable solution to a step-function change in inflow concentration for an ideal, completely mixed lake.

Collapse of the economy, not just recession, is now very likely. To give just one possible cause, in the U.S. the fracking industry is in deep trouble. It is not only that most fracking companies have never achieved a free cash flow (made a profit) since the fracking boom started in 2008, but that  an already very weak  and unprofitable oil industry cannot cope with extremely low oil prices. The result will be the imminent collapse of the industry. However, when the fracking industry collapses in the US, so will the American economy – and by extension, probably, the rest of the world economy. To grasp a second and far more serious threat it is vital to understand the phenomenon of ‘Global Dimming’. Industrial activity not only produces greenhouse gases, but emits also sulphur dioxide which converts to reflective sulphate aerosols in the atmosphere. Sulphate aerosols act like little mirrors that reflect sunlight back into space, cooling the atmosphere. But when economic activity stops, these aerosols (unlike carbon dioxide) drop out of the atmosphere, adding perhaps as much as 1° C to global average temperatures. This can happen in a very short period time, and when it does mankind will be bereft of any means to mitigate the furious onslaught of an out-of-control and merciless climate. The data and the unrelenting dynamic of the viral pandemic paint bleak picture.  As events unfold in the next few months,  we may discover that it is too late to act,  that our reign on this planet has, indeed,  come to an abrupt end?  

This model illustrates predator prey interactions using real-life data of wolf and moose populations on the Isle Royale.

We incorporate logistic growth into the moose dynamics, and we replace the death flow of the moose with a kill rate modeled from the kill rate data found on the Isle Royale website.

I start with these parameters:
Wolf Death Rate = 0.15
Wolf Birth Rate = 0.0187963
Moose Birth Rate = 0.4
Carrying Capacity = 2000
Initial Moose: 563
Initial Wolves: 20

I used RK-4 with step-size 0.1, from 1959 for 60 years.

The moose birth flow is logistic, MBR*M*(1-M/K)
Moose death flow is Kill Rate (in Moose/Year)
Wolf birth flow is WBR*Kill Rate (in Wolves/Year)
Wolf death flow is WDR*W

For Sustainability & Eco Innovation class