Habitat suitability curves (HSCs) are the biological component of habitat simulation tools used to evaluate instream flow management trade‐offs (e.g., the physical habitat simulation model). However, traditional HSCs based on empirical observations of habitat use relative to availability have been criticized for generating biased estimates of flow requirements and for being poorly transferable across locations. For fish like salmonids that feed on drifting invertebrates, bioenergetics‐based foraging models that relate habitat conditions to net energy gain offer an alternative approach that addresses some of these shortcomings. To make this technique more accessible for practitioners, we present free and user‐friendly software for generating bioenergetics‐based HSCs. The software also allows sensitivity analyses of HSCs to factors like fish size or prey abundance as well as direct integration of hydraulic data. While some caveats remain, bioenergetic HSCs should offer a more rigorous and credible means for quantifying habitat suitability for instream flow modeling.

中文翻译：

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用于河流流建模的生物能栖息地适应性曲线：引入用户友好型软件及其潜在应用

栖息地适应性曲线（HSC）是栖息地模拟工具的生物学组成部分，用于评估河流流量管理的权衡（例如，物理栖息地模拟模型）。但是，基于对栖息地使用情况相对于可利用性的经验观察的传统HSC被批评为产生对流量需求的偏向估计，并且在各个地点之间的转移性很差。对于像鲑鱼这样的以漂浮无脊椎动物为食的鱼，将栖息地条件与净能量获取联系起来的基于生物能学的觅食模型提供了一种替代方法来解决其中的一些缺点。为了使该技术更易于从业人员使用，我们提供了免费且用户友好的软件，用于生成基于生物能学的HSC。该软件还可以对HSC进行敏感性分析，以分析鱼类大小或猎物丰度，以及直接整合水力数据。尽管仍然存在一些警告，但生物能HSC应该提供更严格和可信的方法来量化栖息地对河川流模型的适用性。