Strategies for fitting nonlinear ecological models in R, AD Model Builder, and BUGS
2013
1. Ecologists often use nonlinear fitting techniques to estimate the parameters of complex ecological models,
with attendant frustration. This paper compares three open-source model fitting tools and discusses general strategies
for defining and fitting models.
2. R is convenient and (relatively) easy to learn, AD Model Builder is fast and robust but comes with a steep
learning curve, while BUGS provides the greatest flexibility at the price of speed.
3. Our model-fitting suggestions range from general cultural advice (where possible, use the tools and models
that are most common in your subfield) to specific suggestions about how to change the mathematical description
of models to make them more amenable to parameter estimation.
4. A companion web site (https://groups.nceas.ucsb.edu/nonlinear-modeling/projects) presents detailed examples
of application of the three tools to a variety of typical ecological estimation problems; each example links
both to a detailed project report and to full source code and data.
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