DOI: 10.5061/dryad.5m96v
title: Data from: Emergent global patterns of ecosystem structure and function from a mechanistic General Ecosystem Model

description: Anthropogenic activities are causing widespread degradation of ecosystems
 worldwide, threatening the ecosystem services upon which all human life
 depends. Improved understanding of this degradation is urgently needed to
 improve avoidance and mitigation measures. One tool to assist these
 efforts is predictive models of ecosystem structure and function that are
 mechanistic: based on fundamental ecological principles. Here we present
 the first mechanistic General Ecosystem Model (GEM) of ecosystem structure
 and function that is both global, and applies in all terrestrial and
 marine environments. Functional forms and parameter values were derived
 from the theoretical and empirical literature where possible. Simulations
 of the fate of all organisms with body masses between 10 µg and 150,000 kg
 (a range of 14 orders of magnitude) across the globe led to emergent
 properties at individual (e.g. growth rate), community (e.g. biomass
 turnover rates), ecosystem (e.g. trophic pyramids) and macro-ecological
 scales (e.g. global patterns of trophic structure) that are in general
 agreement with current data and theory. These properties emerged from our
 encoding of the biology of, and interactions among, individual organisms
 without any direct constraints on the properties themselves. Our results
 indicate that ecologists have gathered sufficient information to begin to
 build realistic, global and mechanistic models of ecosystems, capable of
 predicting a diverse range of ecosystem properties and their response to
 human pressures.
description: Study 1 - numerical
 analysesThis zip file contains a
 set of data files This study is comprised of an ensemble of 10 simulations
 for each of the 4 focal grid cells listed in Table 4 of the manuscript.
 The outputs were used to generate Figure 2 of the manuscript. Refer to the
 ReadMe-Study1.txt for a detailed description of output files and
 ReadMe-ModelSetup.txt file for a more detailed description of the model
 setup files.Study 2 - Individual and
 community predictionsData outputs generated
 by the Madingley General Ecosystem Model for single simulations in the
 four focal grid cells listed in Table 4 of the manuscript. These outputs
 were used to generate Figures 3 and 4 of the manuscript. A comprehensive
 description of the outputs is given in the ReadMe-Study1.txt file. Refer
 to ReadMe-ModelSetup.txt for a description of the model setup
 files.Study 3 - community
 predictions at observation locationsOutputs from the
 Madingley model for Study 3 listed in Table 3 of the manuscript. The data
 file is comprised of an ensemble of 10 simulations for each of the 13
 focal grid cells listed in Table S3. Model outputs files are described in
 detail in 'ReadMe-Study3.txt', whilst model setup files are
 detailed in the 'ReadMe-ModelSetup.txt'.Study 4 - Global
 predictionsOutputs from the
 Madingley model for Study 4 of Table 3 of the manuscript. This study is
 comprised of one simulation over a global model grid at 2 degree by 2
 degree resolution and extending from 65 degrees north to 65 degrees south,
 and from 180 degrees west to 180 degrees east. Outputs files are described
 in more detail in 'ReadMe.txt' and model setup files are
 described in 'ReadMe-ModelSetup.txt'.