Fisheries Model Visualization.pdf

The thesis "Using Interactive Visualization to Enhance Understanding of a Fisheries Model" by Carmen Rose St. Jean explores the use of interactive visualization to improve understanding of a fisheries model. The model, MS-PROD, is used to simulate the dynamics of fish populations and ecosystems. The thesis focuses on four key areas: visualization of predicted biomass, visualization of change, visualization of causal relationships, and visualization of uncertainty.

The visualization of predicted biomass uses interactive visualizations such as sliders and graphs to show how different input parameters affect the predicted biomass of fish populations. The visualization of change uses dynamic visualizations such as animations and interactive graphs to show how the fish populations and ecosystems change over time.

The visualization of causal relationships uses techniques such as force-directed layouts and arc diagrams to show the relationships between different species and factors in the ecosystem. The visualization of uncertainty uses techniques such as probability distributions and confidence intervals to show the uncertainty associated with the model's predictions.

The thesis evaluates the effectiveness of these visualizations using both formal and informal evaluations. The formal evaluation uses a protocol with questions and answers to assess the participants' understanding of the model and the visualizations. The informal evaluation uses feedback from experts and users to identify areas for improvement.

The thesis concludes that interactive visualization can be an effective way to enhance understanding of complex models like MS-PROD. The visualizations can help users to explore the model's behavior, identify patterns and relationships, and understand the uncertainty associated with the predictions. The thesis also identifies areas for future work, such as improving the user interface and integrating the visualizations with other tools and models.