Model specific setup details

This section contains the details you need to know to setup specific models. Rather than providing separate sections for every single model we group them by type, as a large amount of the setup process will be shared. The four types of models are as follows

• The abiotic environment models (abiotic, abiotic_simple and hydrology)

• The animal model

• The plants model

• The decay models (litter and soil)

Validation of science model configurations

As with the core configuration, each science model in the Virtual Ecosystem has a defined set of configuration options that are built into the definition of the model. Those options will also have specific validation settings that are used to check that the setting values that you provide are appropriate for the model: these constraints are automatically enforced when your configuration files are loaded. If configuration data contains invalid values, then the simulation will exit and the log will contain a detailed breakdown of any configuration validation issues.

The details of the validation constraints for a particular model configuration are described in the documentation of the model configuration. The model setup details pages (provided above) contain links to pages describing the details of these validation constraints for the model in question - these pages are part of the API (application programming interface) so are a bit more technical but provide the a complete description of the model settings.