Individual-based cod simulation with ML-Rules

A dramatic increase in malnourished cod can presently be observed in the Eastern Baltic. Simulation studies help unraveling possible reasons behind this. Particularly, individual-based modeling approaches are promising as they facilitate taking into account the heterogeneity of the cod population, where size, temperature etc. determine behavior patterns. Thus, we develop an individual-based model of cod implemented in the rule-based multi-level modeling language ML-Rules that allows to specify dynamically nested entities with attributes and complex multi-level reaction rules. By using this language, we are able to deal with several challenges when modeling such complex systems, e.g., dynamic structures, complex interaction rates and interdependencies. Here, we discuss the current state of our model that already represents a near realistic cod metabolism and we discuss how ML-Rules helped to solve emerged challenges.