The newly released Fish Bioenergetics 4.0 (FB4) provides a user-friendly, menu-driven environment for bioenergetics modeling. FB4 uses an R-based analytical approach that is linked to a graphical user interface, making simulations easy even for users with little or no experience in R programming. The R programming approach enables timely updates and bug fixes, and can rely on feedback from users to continuously improve the application. Users can add new or modified parameter sets for additional species and incorporate modifications such as habitat-dependent functions (e.g., dissolved oxygen, salinity) that are not part of the default package. Because the core model code is accessible to users it can be incorporated as a module in larger ecological models if desired.
During development of FB4, we conserved many aspects of the previous version of Fish Bioenergetics 3.0 while adding features that improved efficiency and ease of working from the user-interface. Fish Bioenergetics 4.0 contains 105 bioenergetics models representing 72 aquatic species. It is our hope that advances in the new modeling platform will attract a broad range of users while facilitating continued use of bioenergetics modeling to address ecological and management questions. For more information about FB4 or to download the application, please visit our website at http://fishbioenergetics.org/ David Deslauriers, Steve R. Chipps, James E. Breck, James A. Rice, and Charles P. Madenjian
