Habitat Model

Results

The habitat model software produces both spatially explicit and numerical results. The spatially explicit results are the habitat utilization values at every cell in the site, while the numerical results roll up these values into metrics summarizing habitat for the entire site.

Spatially Explicit Results

If a simulation uses one or more rasters as input then the simulation results are saved in raster format (GeoTiff - *.tif) compatible with most GIS software. If a simulation only uses CSV inputs (true for the Maret juvenile HSI models shipped with the software) then the results are only available as CSV files. These CSV files can be converted to rasters by:

  1. Importing the CSV XY data into ArcGIS as an event layer.
  2. Exporting the event layer as a point ShapeFile (right click on the layer and choose Data - Export).
  3. Creating a TIN surface from the Shapefile using the Create TIN geoprocessing tool.
  4. Converting the TIN surface to a raster using the TIN to Raster geoprocessing tool.

Numerical Results

The following summary numerical results are produced for every simulation. These values are available in the XXXXX_output.xml file that is stored in the XML folder under the project top level folder. The steps to access this file are:

  1. Open the Habitat Model Software.
  2. Open the desired project (if it doesn’t open automatically when the software starts).
  3. Right click on the project name in the tree on the top left of the software and choose “Browse Project Folder”. Windows Explorer should open.
  4. Browse into the folder called XML.
  5. Open the file called run_XXXX_output.xml, where XXXX is the date and time of the particular model run. If there are multiple files use the date and time to identify the desired file. This file can be opened in Microsoft Excel or using a powerful text editor.

Weighted Usable Area

The sum of final habitat utilization (either HSI or FIS values) for every cell multiplied by the area of each cell. Zero and NULL values are ignored:

WUA = sum(HSIi * A)

Where: WUA = weighted usable area in the same units as the input area HSIi = the HSI value for each cell A = Area of each cell.

Normalized Weighted Usable Area

The weighted usable area divided by the total area with non-zero habitat utilization. This is a unitless value that is indepedent of site size and reflects the cumulative amount of habitat available.

NWUA = WUA / wetted area