Simulating effects of disturbances on harbour porpoises in the North Sea.

This is the second public version of the DEPONS model for simulation of population effects of noise for the harbour porpoise. It differs from version 1.1 (the first public version) in being calibrated entirely based on data from the North Sea (see TRACE document for details).

The objective of the DEPONS model is to simulate how harbor porpoise population dynamics are affected by pile-driving noise associated with construction of offshore wind farms. The animals’ survival is directly related to their energy levels, and the population dynamics are affected by noise through its impact on the animals’ foraging behavior. By ensuring that the animals’ movement patterns, space use and reactions to noise are realistic, the population dynamics in the model have the same causal drivers in the model as in nature.

The model was developed as part of the DEPONS project (Disturbance Effects of POrpoises in the North Sea) at Aarhus University, Denmark. The code was developed in Eclipse/Repast, and must be installed under this framework. See http://www.depons.au.dk or contact Jacob Nabe-Nielsen ([email protected]) for more information.