Strategies for fitting nonlinear ecological models in R, AD Model Builder, and BUGS

Summary Ecologists often use nonlinear fitting techniques to estimate the parameters of complex ecological models, with attendant frustration. This paper compares three open‐source model fitting tools and discusses general strategies for defining and fitting models. R is convenient and (relatively) easy to learn, AD M odel B uilder is fast and robust but comes with a steep learning curve, while BUGS provides the greatest flexibility at …