EcoService Models Library (ESML)

Compare EMs

EM Variables by Variable Role

One quick way to compare ecological models (EMs) is by comparing their variables. Predictor variables show what kinds of influences a model is able to account for, and what kinds of data it requires. Response variables show what information a model is capable of estimating.

This first comparison shows the names (and units) of each EM’s variables, side-by-side, sorted by variable role. Variable roles in ESML are as follows:

Predictor Variables
- Time- or Space-Varying Variables
- Constants and Parameters
Intermediate (Computed) Variables
Response Variables
- Computed Response Variables
- Measured Response Variables

EM Variables by Category

A second way to use variables to compare EMs is by focusing on the kind of information each variable represents. The top-level categories in the ESML Variable Classification Hierarchy are as follows:

Policy Regarding Use or Management of Ecosystem Resources
Land Surface (or Water Body Bed) Cover, Use or Substrate
Human Demographic Data
Human-Produced Stressor or Enhancer of Ecosystem Goods and Services Production
Ecosystem Attributes and Potential Supply of Ecosystem Goods and Services
Non-monetary Indicators of Human Demand, Use or Benefit of Ecosystem Goods and Services
Monetary Values

Besides understanding model similarities, sorting the variables for each EM by these 7 categories makes it easier to see if the compared models can be linked using similar variables. For example, if one model estimates an ecosystem attribute (in Category 5), such as water clarity, as a response variable, and a second model uses a similar attribute (also in Category 5) as a predictor of recreational use, the two models can potentially be used in tandem. This comparison makes it easier to spot potential model linkages.

All EM Descriptors

This selection allows a more detailed comparison of EMs by model characteristics other than their variables. The 50-or-so EM descriptors for each model are presented, side-by-side, in the following categories:

EM Identity and Description
EM Modeling Approach
EM Locations, Environments, Ecology
EM Ecosystem Goods and Services (EGS) potentially modeled, by classification system

EM Descriptors by Modeling Concepts

This feature guides the user through the use of the following seven concepts for comparing and selecting EMs:

Conceptual Model
Modeling Objective
Modeling Context
Potential for Model Linkage
Feasibility of Model Use
Model Certainty
Model Structural Information

Though presented separately, these concepts are interdependent, and information presented under one concept may have relevance to other concepts as well.

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Comparing:

EM-71
EM-260
EM-333
EM-712

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EM Identity and Description

EM Identification

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
EM Short Name em.detail.shortNameHelp ?	Community flowering date, Central French Alps	Coral taxa and land development, St.Croix, VI, USA	Evoland v3.5 (unbounded growth), Eugene, OR, USA	ESII Tool method
EM Full Name em.detail.fullNameHelp ?	Community weighted mean flowering date, Central French Alps	Coral taxa richness and land development, St.Croix, Virgin Islands, USA	Evoland v3.5 (without urban growth boundaries), Eugene, OR, USA	ESII (Ecosystem Services Identification & Inventory) Tool method
EM Source or Collection em.detail.emSourceOrCollectionHelp ?	EU Biodiversity Action 5	US EPA	Envision	None
EM Source Document ID	260	96	47 ? Comment: Doc 183 is a secondary source for the Evoland model.	391 ? Comment: Website for online user support
Document Author em.detail.documentAuthorHelp ?	Lavorel, S., Grigulis, K., Lamarque, P., Colace, M-P, Garden, D., Girel, J., Pellet, G., and Douzet, R.	Oliver, L. M., Lehrter, J. C. and Fisher, W. S.	Guzy, M. R., Smith, C. L. , Bolte, J. P., Hulse, D. W. and Gregory, S. V.	EcoMetrix Solutions Group (ESG)
Document Year em.detail.documentYearHelp ?	2011	2011	2008	2016
Document Title em.detail.sourceIdHelp ?	Using plant functional traits to understand the landscape distribution of multiple ecosystem services	Relating landscape development intensity to coral reef condition in the watersheds of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands	Policy research using agent-based modeling to assess future impacts of urban expansion into farmlands and forests	ESII Tool
Document Status em.detail.statusCategoryHelp ?	Peer reviewed and published	Peer reviewed and published	Peer reviewed and published	Other or unclear (explain in Comment)
Comments on Status em.detail.commentsOnStatusHelp ?	Published journal manuscript	Published journal manuscript	Published journal manuscript	Website

Software and Access

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
EM Software Access info Exit em.detail.modelAccessInformationHelp ?	Not applicable	Not applicable	http://evoland.bioe.orst.edu/	https://www.esiitool.com/
Contact Name em.detail.contactNameHelp ?	Sandra Lavorel	Leah Oliver	Michael R. Guzy	Not reported
Contact Address	Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, UMR 5553 CNRS Université Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France	National Health and Environmental Research Effects Laboratory	Oregon State University, Dept. of Biological and Ecological Engineering	Not reported
Contact Email	sandra.lavorel@ujf-grenoble.fr	leah.oliver@epa.gov	Not reported	Not reported

EM Description

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
Summary Description em.detail.summaryDescriptionHelp ?	ABSTRACT: "Here, we propose a new approach for the analysis, mapping and understanding of multiple ES delivery in landscapes. Spatially explicit single ES models based on plant traits and abiotic characteristics are combined to identify ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ spots of multiple ES delivery, and the land use and biotic determinants of such distributions. We demonstrate the value of this trait-based approach as compared to a pure land-use approach for a pastoral landscape from the central French Alps, and highlight how it improves understanding of ecological constraints to, and opportunities for, the delivery of multiple services." AUTHOR'S DESCRIPTION: "Community-weighted mean date of flowering onset was modelled using mixed models with land use and abiotic variables as fixed effects (LU + abiotic model) and year as a random effect…and modelled for each 20 x 20 m pixel using GLM estimated effects for each land use category and estimated regression coefficients with abiotic variables."	AUTHOR'S DESCRIPTION: "In this exploratory comparison, stony coral condition was related to watershed LULC and LDI values. We also compared the capacity of other potential human activity indicators to predict coral reef condition using multivariate analysis." (294)	Note: A more recent version of this model exists. See Related EMs below for links to related models/applications. ABSTRACT: "Spatially explicit agent-based models can represent the changes in resilience and ecological services that result from different land-use policies…This type of analysis generates ensembles of alternate plausible representations of future system conditions. User expertise steers interactive, stepwise system exploration toward inductive reasoning about potential changes to the system. In this study, we develop understanding of the potential alternative futures for a social-ecological system by way of successive simulations that test variations in the types and numbers of policies. The model addresses the agricultural-urban interface and the preservation of ecosystem services. The landscape analyzed is at the junction of the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers adjacent to the cities of Eugene and Springfield in Lane County, Oregon." AUTHOR'S DESCRIPTION: "Two general scenarios for urban expansion were created to set the bounds on what might be possible for the McKenzie-Willamette study area. One scenario, fish conservation, tried to accommodate urban expansion, but gave the most weight to policies that would produce resilience and ecosystem services to restore threatened fish populations. The other scenario, unconstrained development, reversed the weighting. The 35 policies in the fish conservation scenario are designed to maintain urban growth boundaries (UGB), accommodate human population growth through increased urban densities, promote land conservation through best-conservation practices on agricultural and forest lands, and make rural land-use conversions that benefit fish. In the unconstrained development scenario, 13 policies are mainly concerned with allowing urban expansion in locations desired by landowners. Urban expansion in this scenario was not constrained by the extent of the UGB, and the policies are not intended to create conservation land uses."	AUTHORS DESCRIPTION: "The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) initiated a collaborative effort to develop models that would help Dow and the wider business community identify and incorporate the value of nature into business decision making…the ESII Tool models and outputs were constructed and tested with an engineering and design perspective to facilitate actionable land use and management decisions. The ESII Tool helps non-ecologists make relative comparisons of the expected levels of ecosystem service performance across a given site, under a variety of conditions. As a planning-level tool, it can inform business decisions while enhancing the user’s relationship with nature. However, other uses that require ecological models of a higher degree of accuracy and/or precision, expert data collection, extensive sampling, and analysis of ecological relationships are beyond the intended scope of this tool." "The ESII App is your remote interface to the ESII Tool. It enables you to collect spatially-explicit ecological data, make maps, collect survey data, take photos, and record notes about your observations. With a Wi-Fi connection, the ESII App can upload and download information stored on the ESII Project Workspace, where final analyses and reports are generated. Because sites may be large and may include several different types of habitats, each Site to be assessed using the ESII Tool is divided into smaller areas called map units, and field data is collected on a map unit basis." "Once a map unit has been selected from the list of map units, the first survey question will always be “Map Unit Habitat Type” (Figure 12). The survey will progress through four categories of questions: habitat, vegetation, surface characteristics, and noise and visual screening. The questions are designed to enable you to select the most appropriate response easily and quickly." "Ecosystem Functions and Services scores are shown in units of percent performance, while each Units of Measure score will be shown in the engineering units appropriate to each attribute. At a map unit level, percent performance predicts how well a map unit would perform a given function or service as a proportion of the maximum potential you would expect from ideal attribute conditions. At a Site or Scenario level, percent performance is calculated as the area weighted average of the individual map unit’s percent performance values; it provides a normalized comparative metric between Sites or Scenarios. At both the map unit and the Site or Scenario levels, the units of measure represent absolute values (such as gallons of runoff or BTU reduction through shading) and can be either summed to show absolute performance of a Scenario, or normalized by area to show area-based rates of performance."
Specific Policy or Decision Context Cited em.detail.policyDecisionContextHelp ?	None identified	Not applicable	Authors Description: " By policy, we mean land management options that span the domains of zoning, agricultural and forest production, environmental protection, and urban development, including the associated regulations, laws, and practices. The policies we used in our SES simulations include urban containment policies…We also used policies modeled on agricultural practices that affect ecoystem services and capital…"	None identified
Biophysical Context	Elevation ranges from 1552 to 2442 m, on predominantly south-facing slopes	nearshore; <1.5 km offshore; <12 m depth	No additional description provided	Not applicable
EM Scenario Drivers em.detail.scenarioDriverHelp ?	No scenarios presented	Not applicable	Three scenarios without urban growth boundaries, and with various combinations of unconstrainted development, fish conservation, and agriculture and forest reserves.	No scenarios presented

EM Relationship to Other EMs or Applications

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
Method Only, Application of Method or Model Run em.detail.methodOrAppHelp ?	Method + Application	Method + Application	Method + Application (multiple runs exist) View EM Runs	Method Only
New or Pre-existing EM? em.detail.newOrExistHelp ?	New or revised model	New or revised model	New or revised model	New or revised model

Related EMs (for example, other versions or derivations of this EM) described in ESML

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
Document ID for related EM em.detail.relatedEmDocumentIdHelp ?	Doc-260 \| Doc-269	None	Doc-183 \| Doc-47 \| Doc-313 \| Doc-314 ? Comment: Doc 183 is a secondary source for the Evoland model.	None
EM ID for related EM em.detail.relatedEmEmIdHelp ?	EM-65 \| EM-66 \| EM-68 \| EM-69 \| EM-70 \| EM-79 \| EM-80 \| EM-81 \| EM-82 \| EM-83	None	EM-12 \| EM-369	EM-713

EM Modeling Approach

EM Relationship to Time

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
EM Temporal Extent em.detail.tempExtentHelp ?	2007-2008	2006-2007	1990-2050	Not applicable
EM Time Dependence em.detail.timeDependencyHelp ?	time-stationary	time-stationary	time-dependent	time-stationary
EM Time Reference (Future/Past) em.detail.futurePastHelp ?	Not applicable	Not applicable	future time	Not applicable
EM Time Continuity em.detail.continueDiscreteHelp ?	Not applicable	Not applicable	discrete	Not applicable
EM Temporal Grain Size Value em.detail.tempGrainSizeHelp ?	Not applicable	Not applicable	2	Not applicable
EM Temporal Grain Size Unit em.detail.tempGrainSizeUnitHelp ?	Not applicable	Not applicable	Year	Not applicable

EM Spatial Extent

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
Bounding Type em.detail.boundingTypeHelp ?	Physiographic or Ecological	Physiographic or Ecological	Geopolitical	Not applicable
Spatial Extent Name em.detail.extentNameHelp ?	Central French Alps	St.Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands	Junction of McKenzie and Willamette Rivers, adjacent to the cities of Eugene and Springfield, Lane Co., Oregon, USA	Not applicable
Spatial Extent Area (Magnitude) em.detail.extentAreaHelp ?	10-100 km^2	10-100 km^2	10-100 km^2	Not applicable

Spatial Distribution of Computations

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
EM Spatial Distribution em.detail.distributeLumpHelp ?	spatially distributed (in at least some cases)	spatially lumped (in all cases)	spatially distributed (in at least some cases)	spatially distributed (in at least some cases) ? Comment: map units delineated by user based on project.
Spatial Grain Type em.detail.spGrainTypeHelp ?	area, for pixel or radial feature	Not applicable	area, for pixel or radial feature	other (specify), for irregular (e.g., stream reach, lake basin)
Spatial Grain Size em.detail.spGrainSizeHelp ?	20 m x 20 m	Not applicable	varies	map units

EM Structure and Computation Approach

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
EM Computational Approach em.detail.emComputationalApproachHelp ?	Analytic	Analytic	Numeric	Analytic
EM Determinism em.detail.deterStochHelp ?	deterministic	deterministic	stochastic	deterministic
Statistical Estimation of EM em.detail.statisticalEstimationHelp ?	Conventional (frequentist) statistics	Conventional (frequentist) statistics	Other or unclear (comment)	Bayesian statistics

Model Checking Procedures Used

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
Model Calibration Reported? em.detail.calibrationHelp ?	No	Yes	Unclear	Not applicable
Model Goodness of Fit Reported? em.detail.goodnessFitHelp ?	Yes	Yes	No	Not applicable
Goodness of Fit (metric\| value \| unit) em.detail.goodnessFitValuesHelp ?	R squared \| 45.2 \| Not applicable	R squared (taxa richness) \| 0.74 \| Not applicable p-value \| 0.0020 \| unitless	None	None
Model Operational Validation Reported? em.detail.validationHelp ?	No	No	No	Not applicable
Model Uncertainty Analysis Reported? em.detail.uncertaintyAnalysisHelp ?	No	Yes	No	Not applicable
Model Sensitivity Analysis Reported? em.detail.sensAnalysisHelp ?	No	No	No	Not applicable
Model Sensitivity Analysis Include Interactions? em.detail.interactionConsiderHelp ?	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable

EM Locations, Environments, Ecology

Location of EM Application

Terrestrial location (Classification hierarchy: Continent > Country > U.S. State [United States only])

EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
Europe France	None	North America United States Oregon	None

Marine location (Classification hierarchy: Realm > Region > Province > Ecoregion)

EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
None	Tropical Atlantic West Tropical Atlantic Tropical Southwestern Atlantic	None	None

Centroid Lat/Long (Decimal Degree)

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
Centroid Latitude em.detail.ddLatHelp ?	45.05	17.75	44.11	Not applicable
Centroid Longitude em.detail.ddLongHelp ?	6.4	-64.75	-123.09	Not applicable
Centroid Datum em.detail.datumHelp ?	WGS84	NAD83	WGS84	Not applicable
Centroid Coordinates Status em.detail.coordinateStatusHelp ?	Provided	Estimated	Estimated	Not applicable

Environments and Scales Modeled

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
EM Environmental Sub-Class em.detail.emEnvironmentalSubclassHelp ?	Agroecosystems \| Grasslands	Near Coastal Marine and Estuarine	Rivers and Streams \| Forests \| Agroecosystems \| Created Greenspace	Rivers and Streams \| Inland Wetlands \| Lakes and Ponds \| Terrestrial Environment (sub-classes not fully specified)
Specific Environment Type em.detail.specificEnvTypeHelp ?	Subalpine terraces, grasslands, and meadows.	stony coral reef	Agricultural-urban interface at river junction	Not applicable
EM Ecological Scale em.detail.ecoScaleHelp ?	Not applicable	Ecological scale is finer than that of the Environmental Sub-class	Ecological scale is finer than that of the Environmental Sub-class	Not applicable

Scale and taxa of organisms modeled

Scale of differentiation of organisms modeled

EM ID em.detail.idHelp ?	EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
EM Organismal Scale em.detail.orgScaleHelp ?	Community	Guild or Assemblage	Not applicable	Not applicable

Taxonomic level and name of organisms or groups identified

EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
None Available	Genus Acropora Porites spp. Diploria spp. Species Mycetophylia lamarckiana Mycetophylia ferox Montastrea cavernosa Dichocoenia stokesii Meandrina meandrites Agaricia tenuifolia Agaricia fragilis Montastrea annularis Agaricia agaricites Dendrogyra cylindricus Millepora complanata Montastrea faveolata Porites astreoides Montastrea franksii	other Fish Species Red-Legged Frog Osprey Western Terrestrial Garter Snake Little Brown Myotis Belted Kingfisher Wood Duck Northern River Otter Great Blue Heron Roughskin Newt Pacific Water Shrew American Beaver Mink Western Pond Turtle Killdeer Northwestern Salamander	None Available

EnviroAtlas URL

EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
None Available	None Available	Dasymetric Allocation of Population, GAP Ecological Systems, The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), Percent Natural Land Cover in Stream Buffer , Hectares of Vegetable Crops, Employment Rate	GAP Ecological Systems, The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), Average Annual Precipitation, Agricultural water use (million gallons/day)

EM Ecosystem Goods and Services (EGS) potentially modeled, by classification system

CICES v 4.3 - Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (Section > Division > Group > Class)

EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
None	[Non-ecosystem] Regulation & Maintenance by natural physical structures and processes Maintenance of physical, chemical, abiotic conditions By natural chemical and physical processes Not applicable	[Ecosystem] Regulation & Maintenance Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions Lifecycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool protection Maintaining nursery populations and habitats	[Ecosystem] Provisioning Materials Water Surface water for non-drinking purposes [Ecosystem] Regulation & Maintenance Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions Soil formation and composition Decomposition and fixing processes Atmospheric composition and climate regulation Micro and regional climate regulation Global climate regulation by reduction of greenhouse gas concentrations Water conditions Chemical condition of freshwaters Mediation of flows Liquid flows Flood protection Hydrological cycle and water flow maintenance Gaseous / air flows Ventilation and transpiration Mass flows Buffering and attenuation of mass flows Mass stabilisation and control of erosion rates Mediation of waste, toxics and other nuisances Mediation by biota Filtration/sequestration/storage/accumulation by micro-organisms, algae, plants, and animals Mediation by ecosystems Mediation of smell/noise/visual impacts Filtration/sequestration/storage/accumulation by ecosystems

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/national-ecosystem-services-classification-system-nescs-plus">National Ecosystem Services Classification System (NESCS) Plus</a>

(Environmental Subclass > Ecological End-Product (EEP) > EEP Subclass > EEP Modifier)

EM-71	EM-260	EM-333	EM-712
None	Near Coastal Marine/Estuarine (113) Fauna (4) Invertebrates Quality Indicator	Forests (21) Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Site Characteristic Indicator Agroecosystems (22) Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Site Characteristic Indicator	Rivers and Streams (111) Water (3) Liquid water Site Indicator Stock Indicator Flow Indicator Quality Indicator Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Stock Indicator Forests (21) Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Stock Indicator Grasslands (23) Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Stock Indicator Scrubland/Shrubland (24) Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Stock Indicator Lakes and Ponds (112) Water (3) Liquid water Site Indicator Stock Indicator Flow Indicator Quality Indicator Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Stock Indicator Wetlands (12) Water (3) Liquid water Site Indicator Stock Indicator Flow Indicator Quality Indicator Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Stock Indicator Urban/Suburban (27) Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Stock Indicator Agroecosystems (22) Composite (8) Presence of environmental class/subclass Stock Indicator Soil (2) Specific types of soil Quality Indicator

EcoService Models Library (ESML)

Compare EMs

EM Variables by Variable Role

EM Variables by Category

All EM Descriptors

EM Descriptors by Modeling Concepts

Comparing:

EM Identity and Description

Comment:

Comment:

Related EMs (for example, other versions or derivations of this EM) described in ESML

Comment:

EM Modeling Approach

Comment:

EM Locations, Environments, Ecology

Terrestrial location (Classification hierarchy: Continent > Country > U.S. State [United States only])

Marine location (Classification hierarchy: Realm > Region > Province > Ecoregion)

Centroid Lat/Long (Decimal Degree)

Scale of differentiation of organisms modeled

Taxonomic level and name of organisms or groups identified

EnviroAtlas URL

EM Ecosystem Goods and Services (EGS) potentially modeled, by classification system

CICES v 4.3 - Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (Section > Division > Group > Class)

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/national-ecosystem-services-classification-system-nescs-plus">National Ecosystem Services Classification System (NESCS) Plus</a>

(Environmental Subclass > Ecological End-Product (EEP) > EEP Subclass > EEP Modifier)