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Activin |
Signalling molecule released during embryo development |
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Age-class modelling |
modelling Modelling a population in terms of the number of individuals in different age-classes |
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Alarm |
Simile component that allows the functions in a submodel to be evaluated multiple times, in order to perform an iterative calculation |
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Area (modelling changes in) |
Modelling the changes land area, typically the area occupied by a certain land-use |
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Association submodel |
Uses the Simile “association submodel” to specify a relationship between objects (e.g. ownership of fields by farmers) |
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Basic System Dynamics |
Denotes a System Dynamics model containing only compartments, flows and variables |
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Biomass |
The amount of biological material |
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Branching |
As in tree branching patterns, root branching, etc |
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Broom grass |
A type of grass grown in parts of Africa, for thatching etc |
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Budworm |
Insect pest in Canada |
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Business model |
A model of some business process, e.g. cash flow, sales |
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Carbon dynamics |
Dynamics of pools of carbon (as in global change models) |
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Cellular automata |
Any system in which rules are applied to cells and their neighbors in a regular grid. |
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Chaotic behaviour |
Dynamic behaviour that is aperiodic and has the property that a small perturbation can cause a large change to subsequent values, making it unpredictable in the long term |
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Chemical reactions |
Modelling rates of chemical reactions, usually denoted by chemical equations |
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Climate change |
Typically, changes relating to the greenhouse effect |
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Cohort modelling |
Models a population as a set of cohorts, with each cohort being created at some point in time and having the attribute of the number of individuals in it. |
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Competition |
Competition between plant or animal species |
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Conditional submodel |
A submodel whose existence depends on some condition. May be single-instance, in which case it is either there or not there, or multi-instance, in which case only instances for some index values might exist. Association submodels are typically conditional. |
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Daisy world |
Models exploring the supposed ability of life on planets to regulate conditions to suit itself |
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Dashed influence arrow |
Selecting "use values in same time step" in influence properties produces a dashed influence arrow. This means the destination can be evaluated before the source, provided they are done in the same program loop. |
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Degree-days |
Sum of product of time (days) and temperature above a lower threshold (degrees Celsius) for development of plants and invertebrates. Development stages of plants and invertebrates require a certain number of degree-days to complete.
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Develoment, physiological |
Physiolgical development of organisms |
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Disaggregated population |
Splitting a population into subpopulations (spatial areas, age-classes, sex classes, etc) |
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Dummy instance |
If an association is used to define a hierarchy, it has an exclusive role for the 'child', which has only one 'parent'. But the individual at the top must also have a 'child' role, so a dummy association instance is added, typically connecting it to itself. |
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Ecophysiology |
Physiological processes in ecosystem components, typically plant-growth modelling in terms of photosynthesis and respiration |
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Evapotranspiration |
Evaporation of surface water plus water transpired (evaporated through stomata) by plants |
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Exclusive Role |
If exactly one instance of an association model exists for each instance of a base model, then it has an exclusive role. If the role is marked as exclusive, the base model can get single values rather than lists from the association. |
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Exponential growth |
Growth where each unit contributes a fixed amount per unit of time; unrestricted growth |
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Fire modelling |
Usually, modelling the spatial spread of fire across a landscape |
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Fixed-membership submodel |
A submodel with a fixed number of instances (e.g. a submodel representing a fixed number of spatial grid squares or age-classes) |
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Food web |
The pattern of who-eats-whom in ecosystems |
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Forest dynamics |
Typically, the changes in number of trees |
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Fractals |
Self-similarity at different levels of detail |
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function last |
The Simile function last(X), returning the value of element X from the previous time step |
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function prev |
The Simile function prev(N), which returns the value of the same variable N time units ago |
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Grass |
Models of the dynamics of grass-like vegetation |
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Hexagonal grid |
An alternative to the square grid for disaggregating an area to be modelled. Hexagonal grids are better where interactions between neighbouring areas are important because each cell has six equally close neighbours rather than four. |
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Homeostasis |
Self-regulation, as in temperature or glucose regulation in animals |
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Individual-based |
Represents the individuals in a population as separate individuals; typically uses the Simile population submodel q.v. |
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Individual-based population dynamics |
Represents the changing numbers of individuals in a population; typically uses the Simile population submodel q.v. |
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Inheritance |
New individuals in a population are parameterized by values from their parent individuals, either fixed (e.g., genetic information) or variable(e.g., location, wealth) |
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Insects |
Models of insect population dynamics, pests etc |
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Iteration |
A calculation that is performed many times in order to seek a result
with the desired properties. It may be searcing through a list, doing
successive approximations, or simply trying different random sets of
inputs.
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L-systems |
Lindenmayer systems: a fractal-based method for modelling branching patterns in plants |
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Labour allocation |
Allocation of time for different activities for a labour pool |
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Lake model |
Models hydrology, nutrients, pollution in lakes |
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LAMOS |
'Landuse Modelling System': a generic landuse modelling framework |
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Land-use change |
Changes in land-use patterns across a landscape |
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Lindenmayer systems |
A fractal-based method for modelling branching patterns in plants |
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Logistic growth |
S-shaped or sigmoid growth; initially exponential growth, levelling off as a plateau (the 'carrying capacity') is reached |
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Lotka-Volterra |
The authors of several classic textbook models of population dynamics |
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Lumped model |
No division of model components into subclasses; non-disaggregated |
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Marine |
Anything to do with (life in) seas and oceans |
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Markov model |
Probabilistic changes in discrete state |
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ModMED |
'Modelling Mediterranean Ecosystem Dynamics': an EU project |
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Mono Lake, California |
A small lake in California |
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Morphogenesis |
The development of shape and pattern in organisms |
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Movement |
Movement of individual organisms or particles in 2D or 3D space |
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Multi-agent systems |
A system comprising many individuals, or independent agents, whose aggregate behaviour is often unexpected |
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Multi-instance submodel |
A submodel representing many functionally similar entities in the world. Variables in the submodel have many values, one for each instance, and the index() function can be used within it to get a serial number that differs between instances. |
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Multi-species population dynamics |
The dynamics of the population dynamics of several species, typically with interactions between them |
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Nitrogen dynamics |
Dynamics of nitrogen (in various forms) within ecosystems |
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One sided enumeration |
A method of creating a relation between two base submodels (possibly the same) where one base submodel specifies which instance(s) of the other it relates to. |
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Particles |
Any objects treated as a unit (e.g. gas molecules) |
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Pests |
Species causing damage to crops or forests |
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Plug-and-play modularity |
The ability to insert a submodel (module) into a model, and immediately run the new model |
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Population dynamics |
Changes in the size of a population |
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Population submodel |
A Simile technical term, denoting a submodel which can have instances that are created and destroyed during a simulation |
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Ranking |
Ordering things (typically, submodel instances) according to some criterion |
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Simile techniques |
Any Simile-specific technique |
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Single-species population dynamics |
The dynamics of a single population |
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Soil water dynamics |
Changes in the amount of water in soil |
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Spatial modelling |
Modelling a landscape in terms of multiple individual parcels of land: e.g. polygon patches, grid cells |
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Spatial organization |
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Stochastic modelling |
Modelling that includes some element of randomness, which therefore produces different results for each run |
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Submodel |
Part of a Simile model diagram which is enclosed by a boundary and treated as a distinct unit. Submodels can have many properties, such as multiple instances within their parent model, a different time step, or even their own separate executable code. |
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System Dynamics |
The standard term for compartment-flow (or stock-flow) modelling |
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Technique |
Any Simile-specific technique |
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Tree architecture |
Typically, branching patterns of trees (but can include modelling crown shape) |
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Urban modelling |
Modelling towns and cities, usually from a policy perspective |
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Vegetation dynamics |
Dynamics of biomass or spatial spread of vegetation components |
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Water |
Used here to denote modelling the dynamics of water bodies, e.g. lakes |
