We Crash a Model

I have spent most of this week working on manuscript edits, as my boss and I got our reviews back for a paper that we are hoping to publish in the coming months. These reviews, in particular, were really helpful in identifying areas that were unclear in the first draft, especially regarding technical details, local ecological and environmental factors, and some sampling methods. When you sit with and talk about research for so long, you forget that others don't have the same insights and you need reviewers to point out areas for improvement, so I am grateful for the scientists who gave their time to provide feedback.

I have also spent this week running through some final model tests for my side project: modeling how microplastics move through a Gulf of Mexico food web. This model is small with only 24 model groups, but represents some important species in the northern Gulf, both ecologically and commercially. I am evaluating how proposed policy may affect the transfer of microplastics in this food web by changing the amount of microplastics released through the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, one of my key model groups has not survived the initial test runs. First, Kim identified that there was a data input problem, where the fishing vessels were fishing using a > 500x effort multiplier which was killing lots of animals. After fixing that problem, however, the group was still crashing so I am starting to build the model from scratch in case there are residual calculations that I cannot delete from the model that may be affecting the runs. The microplastics, though, are nicely tracking through the system, so I am pleased that at least one aspect of this model is working as expected. I will have to hurry up and get this done, as I will be presenting this work in a little over a week, as soon as we are back from our upcoming conference (at which I'm presenting the unrelated manuscript work from paragraph 1).

Next week I will update you on the conference, which I'm sure will be a great time, as the entire lab is presenting research. I also realize that I have written many blogs that lack pictures, so my goal for all future blogs is to include a snapshot or a digital art piece that I create to keep the blogs fresh and exciting. Stay tuned!