project: Project size spectrum forward in time

In mizer: Dynamic Multi-Species Size Spectrum Modelling

Project size spectrum forward in time

Description

Runs the size spectrum model simulation. The function returns an object of type MizerSim that can then be explored with a range of summary_functions, indicator_functions and plotting_functions.

Usage

project(
  object,
  effort,
  t_max = 100,
  dt = 0.1,
  t_save = 1,
  t_start = 0,
  initial_n,
  initial_n_pp,
  append = TRUE,
  progress_bar = TRUE,
  callback = NULL,
  method = c("euler", "predictor_corrector", "tr_bdf2"),
  check_steady = FALSE,
  ...
)

Arguments

object	Either a MizerParams object or a MizerSim object (which contains a MizerParams object).
effort	The effort of each fishing gear through time. See notes below.
t_max	The number of years the projection runs for. The default value is 100. When an effort array is supplied, this argument can be used to extend the simulation beyond the times specified in the effort array. See notes below.
dt	Time step of the solver. The default value is 0.1. When object is a MizerSim, defaults to the value used to produce that simulation.
t_save	The frequency with which the output is stored. The default value is 1. See notes below.
t_start	The the year of the start of the simulation. The simulation will cover the period from t_start to t_start + t_max. Defaults to 0. Ignored if an array is used for the effort argument or a MizerSim for the object argument.
initial_n	The initial abundances of species. Instead of using this argument you should set initialN(params) to the desired value.
initial_n_pp	The initial abundances of resource. Instead of using this argument you should set initialNResource(params) to the desired value.
append	A boolean that determines whether the new simulation results are appended to the previous ones. Only relevant if object is a MizerSim object. Default = TRUE.
progress_bar	Either a boolean value to determine whether a progress bar should be shown in the console, or a shiny Progress object to implement a progress bar in a shiny app.
callback	A function to be called at each saved time step of the simulation. The callback function is called with the MizerSim object, the current time index, and any additional arguments passed to project() via ....
method	The numerical method to use for the consumer density update. "euler" uses the first-order semi-implicit Euler update. "predictor_corrector" uses a predictor-corrector Crank-Nicolson update with midpoint rates, which is second order in time but can oscillate at large time steps. "tr_bdf2" uses the L-stable, second-order TR-BDF2 method, which retains second-order accuracy while damping those oscillations. "predictor-corrector" is accepted as an alias for "predictor_corrector". When object is a MizerSim, defaults to the value used to produce that simulation. A warning is issued if append = TRUE and the supplied value differs from the stored one.
check_steady	If TRUE, warn when the model is not at its steady state before the projection starts, which catches the common mistake of forgetting to re-run tuneSteadyState() after a ⁠match…⁠/⁠calibrate…⁠ step. Default FALSE, because projecting a model away from its steady state is a perfectly normal thing to do. It is meant for a MizerParams object; when continuing from a MizerSim the starting state is deliberately wherever the previous run ended, so there is nothing to check. The check is made at the effort stored in the params object rather than at the effort supplied here, so that running a fishing scenario at a new effort — which legitimately starts away from the steady state of that new effort — does not warn. See getSteadyResidual().
...	Other arguments will be passed to rate functions.

Value

An object of class MizerSim.

Advective flux scheme

The spatial discretisation of the growth (advection) term is controlled by the flux entry of the second_order_w slot of the params object, not by an argument to project(). With the default ("upwind") the first-order upwind flux is used. Setting it to "van_leer" (for example with second_order_w(params) <- TRUE) switches on a flux-limited (van Leer, TVD) deferred correction that removes the leading numerical diffusion \approx g\,w\,\log\beta of the upwind flux while keeping the density update a tridiagonal solve and preserving positivity. The correction is most useful on coarse logarithmic grids and pairs naturally with the second-order time methods. Because it changes the discrete steady state, the choice lives in the params object alongside the steady state rather than being a per-run argument. See second_order_w().

Custom rates must depend continuously on abundance

All three methods are semi-implicit: the densities are solved for implicitly, but the rates that build the transport operator are frozen at values computed from earlier states. The second-order methods gain their extra order by evaluating the rates twice — at the start of the step and from a provisional prediction of its end — and averaging. That average is only second order if the rates vary smoothly along the trajectory.

A custom rate function registered with setRateFunction() that depends discontinuously on the abundances therefore defeats all three methods alike, including the L-stable "tr_bdf2", whose damping applies to the frozen linear operator and not to the rates. The result is a trajectory that keeps changing as dt is refined. See the Discontinuous rate functions article for the symptoms and the remedy.

Note

The effort argument specifies the level of fishing effort during the simulation. If it is not supplied, the initial effort stored in the params object is used. The effort can be specified in four different ways:

• A single numeric value. This specifies the effort of all fishing gears which is constant through time (i.e. all the gears have the same constant effort).

• A named vector whose names match with existing gear names. The values in the vector specify the constant fishing effort for those fishing gears, i.e. the effort is constant through time. The effort for gears that are not included in the effort vector is set to the default effort value, which is 1 in defaults edition 2 and later and 0 in earlier defaults editions. Missing (NA) effort entries are replaced in the same way.

• A numerical vector which has the same length as the number of fishing gears. The values in the vector specify the constant fishing effort of each of the fishing gears, with the ordering assumed to be the same as in the MizerParams object.

• A numerical array with dimensions time x gear. This specifies the fishing effort of each gear at each time step. The first dimension, time, must be named numerically and increasing. The second dimension of the array must be named and the names must correspond to the gear names in the MizerParams object. The value for the effort for a particular time is used during the interval from that time to the next time in the array.

If effort is specified as an array then the smallest time in the array is used as the initial time for the simulation. Otherwise the initial time is set to the final time of the previous simulation if object is a MizerSim object or to t_start otherwise.

When an effort array is provided, the t_max argument can be used to extend the simulation beyond the last time specified in the effort array. In this case, the effort values from the last time in the array will be used for the extended period. The t_save argument can be used to specify the frequency at which simulation results are saved. If t_save is not supplied, the results will be saved at the times specified in the effort array. If both t_max and t_save are provided with an effort array, effort values will be interpolated (using step function) or extrapolated (using the last known value) as needed for the new time points. The t_start argument continues to be ignored when an effort array is supplied.

Note that if t_max or t_save are specified, the time grid for the simulation is resampled based on t_save. This means that if the time points in the effort array are irregular and do not align with the new grid, those specific time points may be lost and the effort values at the new grid points will be calculated via interpolation.

If the object argument is of class MizerSim then the initial values for the simulation are taken from the final values in the MizerSim object and the corresponding arguments to this function will be ignored.

Examples

params <- NS_params
# With constant fishing effort for all gears for 20 time steps
sim <- project(params, t_max = 20, effort = 0.5)
# With constant fishing effort which is different for each gear
effort <- c(Industrial = 0, Pelagic = 1, Beam = 0.5, Otter = 0.5)
sim <- project(params, t_max = 20, effort = effort)
# With fishing effort that varies through time for each gear
gear_names <- c("Industrial", "Pelagic", "Beam", "Otter")
times <- seq(from = 1, to = 10, by = 1)
effort_array <- array(NA,
    dim = c(length(times), length(gear_names)),
    dimnames = list(time = times, gear = gear_names)
)
effort_array[, "Industrial"] <- 0.5
effort_array[, "Pelagic"] <- seq(from = 1, to = 2, length = length(times))
effort_array[, "Beam"] <- seq(from = 1, to = 0, length = length(times))
effort_array[, "Otter"] <- seq(from = 1, to = 0.5, length = length(times))
sim <- project(params, effort = effort_array)
# Extend a simulation beyond the effort array times
# Effort values from the final time are used for the extension
sim <- project(params, effort = effort_array, t_max = 15)
# Control save times with an effort array using t_save
sim <- project(params, effort = effort_array, t_save = 2)

mizer documentation built on Aug. 24, 2026, 9:08 a.m.