Online mizer course
2022 August 8-26
Size based ecosystem models with the R package mizer and applications for coastal and inland ecosystems
In this online course you will learn about the principles of size based community and ecosystem modelling, implementation of these principles in the R package mizer, learn about adaptation of mizer for shallow ecosystems with multiple resources, and learn how to build a new model with your own or example data and use it to investigate the ecosystem effect of changes in fishing or other stressors.
The course is led by Gustav Delius (University of York, UK) and Asta Audzijonyte (Nature Research Centre, Lithuania & University of Tasmania, Australia), with technical support by Romain Forestier (University of Tasmania). Invited speakers include Ken Haste Andersen and Julia Blanchard.
This course ran live in August 2022 and, besides the tutorials, also consisted of worksheets that participants would commit via GitHub to obtain feedback. The course was supported by daily online meetings. While those live elements are no longer available, you can still work through the tutorials on this website on your own and use the discussion board at the bottom of each tutorial for questions and comments.
There is an updated version of the course available now, however that course does not use the mizerMR extension that allows for multiple resource spectra.
Tutorials and worksheets
The course has three week-long sections:
Week 1: Understand
You will gain an understanding of size spectra and their dynamics by exploring simple example systems hands-on with mizer.Week 2: Build
Following our example, you will build your own multi-species mizer model for the Curonian sea. We will collect the models from all participants to create an ensemble of models.Week 3: Use
We will use this new ensemble of mizer models to explore the effects of changes in fishing and changes in resource dynamics. You will run your own model scenarios.
The course is organised into several tutorials each week. Each tutorial is associated with a worksheet in which you perform the exercises that are dotted throughout the tutorials. You will work through these tutorials and worksheets at times that are convenient for you.
On-line meetings
Now that the live course has ended, the information below is obsolete.
There will be several optional online meeting scheduled throughout the course, see the list of meetings in the table below. The purpose of the meetings is to add a social dimension to the course. You only have to join when you can. For each day we organise two meetings to accommodate different time zones:
7am UK summer time (BST) most suitable for Asia and Australasia:
https://live.remo.co/e/mizer-course-meetings3pm UK summer time (BST) most suitable for Europe and America:
https://live.remo.co/e/mizer-course-meetings-2
Please follow one of these links now. You will be asked to create yourself an account. Please use the email address that you used for registering for this mizer course. If you need to use another email address, please send an email from that email address to gustav.delius@gmail.com and he will add that email to the list of accepted emails.
Once you have logged into Remo, you will be introduced to its main features and then Remo will check whether your browser and operating system is on their list of supported configurations.
Do not worry if you get the message that your configuration is not supported. It will most likely work anyway.
When you get to the landings page for the meeting, click on “Register for Event”. You will only need to do this once. All future meetings will use the same meeting space.
On Monday 8th of August we will have an introductory and welcome meeting with all course participants. On Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week course participants are encouraged to join the meetings with other course participants to discuss their progress, challenges and ideas (course tutors will not attend all these meetings). On Fridays we will have meetings with tutors to recap the experience from that week and discuss remaining questions.
| Date | Time 1 | Time 2 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 8, Monday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Introductory meeting for all course participants and tutors |
| Aug 9, Tuesday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Course participants are encouraged to join and form group discussions |
| Aug 11, Thursday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Course participants are encouraged to join and form group discussions |
| Aug 12, Friday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Meetings with course participants and tutors |
| Aug 16, Tuesday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Course participants are encouraged to join and form group discussions |
| Aug 18, Thursday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Course participants are encouraged to join and form group discussions |
| Aug 19, Friday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Meetings with course participants and tutors |
| Aug 23, Tuesday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Course participants are encouraged to join and form group discussions |
| Aug 25, Thursday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Course participants are encouraged to join and form group discussions |
| Aug 26, Friday | 7.00 | 15.00 | Final days of meetings with course participants and tutors on Zoom |
This course is organised as a part of the “Sustainable inland fisheries” project, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (project No 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-02-0006) under grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT) and the Pyramids of Life, funded by UK Research and Innovation via the Sustainable Management of Marine Resources fund. This course was also funded by the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation at The Pew Charitable Trusts.
