Red Queen Simulator

START — Begins the simulation run. The currently specified Number of Faunas are followed for the specified Number of Timesteps. The right running light glows green while the simulation is executing. At the conclusion, two files are automatically saved in the current working directory (where the application was started): rqxxx.params.txt, and rqxxx.output.txt, where "xxx" is a run identification number (starting at 001 and increasing by 1 each time a run is performed from that directory). The params file lists the parameter values and program states for the run, and the output file the mean value and 95% confidence interval of the faunal slopes for each timestep.

MAC OS Only: You can use the Preferences option under the application's name in the Finder's menu bar in order to choose an alternate location for the output files.

VIDEO MODE — This switches the display between showing the default "Slopes" graph (3) to show the regression of log population size ("density") on log body mass at each timestep. Each point is a single species. New species flash red during the first timestep that they appear. The horizontal (Body Mass) axis is fixed and values range between 0 and 6. The vertical axis (population size) is essentially arbitrary and depends on the Total Energy Available (10).

Although you can toggle between these two video modes while a run is in progress, they do not pass information to each other; the slopes display starts from a clean slate each time the mode is changed, so it would not show the complete run.

Note: The application initially attempts to scale the regression graph so that the regression appears in the center, but it is not always successful, and can't anticipate the ultimate results. Sometimes changing the Total Energy Available will help the application to choose more wisely.