Team:Carnegie Mellon/Fish

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Purpose

The fish model allows users to see the effects of different concentrations of estrogen on a freshwater ecosystem containing algae, fish, and birds. The model attempts to capture the long-term effects of estrogen on male fish, and demonstrates how sensitive a freshwater ecosystem can be to various concentrations of estrogen. The model is stochastic and it was written in NetLogo, an agent-based modeling language which allows users to view and analyze complex interactions between agents and their environment. A stochastic model employs probability to determine the behavior of its components, thus it is the best type of model to capture the randomness of an ecosystem. The model was also demonstrated to local public school teachers so that they could help their students visualize interactions between different organisms and organisms and their environment. The current lake we are simulating is fictional, however, the code has been developed in such a way that one could substitute the parameters in our model with parameters they have received from a particular lake they wish to test.