Abstract Agroecological food web modelling, which models trophic relationships between the species present in agricultural fields, has significant potential uses in the fields of theoretical and practical agroecology, specifically regarding the planning and evaluation of integrated pest management and biocontrol strategies. However, the practical use of such models with field data has been hindered by their complexity and difficulty in calibration, as well as the lack of software tools to streamline and standardise their development and evaluation. In this research we present a new modular software tool, Tiko’n, which allows users to rapidly (within a few lines of Python code) develop, calibrate and validate agroecological food web population dynamics models based on observed field population data. We then demonstrate its use in developing a food web model of a coconut pest in Sri Lanka and apply the model to assessing the potential impact of alternative biocontrol strategies. The software allowed for very rapid model development and adjustment and showed that smaller parasitoid releases may be more efficient than a single, larger application. It is the authors’ hope that this tool will contribute to a more widespread use of agroecological food web modelling in research and agronomic practice.

中文翻译：

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开发用于农业生态食物网模型开发的新模块化软件工具：Tiko'n

摘要 农业生态食物网模型对农业领域中存在的物种之间的营养关系进行建模，在理论和实践农业生态学领域具有重要的潜在用途，特别是在综合害虫管理和生物防治策略的规划和评估方面。然而，这些带有现场数据的模型的实际应用受到其复杂性和校准难度的阻碍，以及缺乏简化和标准化其开发和评估的软件工具。在这项研究中，我们展示了一个新的模块化软件工具 Tiko'n，它允许用户根据观察到的现场人口数据快速（在几行 Python 代码内）开发、校准和验证农业生态食物网人口动态模型。然后，我们展示了它在开发斯里兰卡椰子害虫食物网模型中的用途，并将该模型应用于评估替代生物防治策略的潜在影响。该软件允许非常快速的模型开发和调整，并表明较小的寄生蜂释放可能比单个较大的应用程序更有效。作者希望该工具将有助于在研究和农艺实践中更广泛地使用农业生态食物网模型。