Environmental Engineering Reference
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Fig. 12.5 In the rodent population oscillation model it turns out that top-down and bottom-up
control of the rodent cycles change in an unpredictable way. This yields an explanation for why
empirical investigations led to contradictory results (from Reuter 2005)
pattern that captures ecological relation only according to a particular scheme,
IBM has the advantage to represent observation and knowledge in a form that
is highly congruent with how we understand existing interaction. The level of
abstraction is low, and the model represents elementary interactions that aggregate
in the course of model execution in the same form as observable phenomena in
empirical investigations. The iterative character of the models allows to “sample”
during simulation. In that respect IBM is a crucial tool in testing consistency
of ecological knowledge. Due to their potential to represent detailed biological
knowledge and small-scale mechanisms, IBMs tend to have a complex model
structure. This requires a particular attention to model documentation and eva-
luation (see Chap. 23).
The generic applicability of the structure of IBMs allows simulating a wide
range of issues in terrestrial as well as in aquatic ecology. The illustrated scheme of
programme organization is sufficiently flexible to capture organismic development
and behaviour, environmental conditions, and the interaction of both. It is suitable
to specify e.g. predator-prey interactions (Charnell 2008), schooling (Reuter and
Breckling 1994), and behavioural shifts under varying conditions (Peacor et al.
2007), the formation of colonies and the description of structural-functional devel-
opment of modular organisms (Eschenbach 2005).
IBMs allow to represent interaction of structural and functional features across
different scales. Thus situations which do not only involve quantitative transitions
but in parallel also qualitative or structural changes can be studied. Simulation
results on higher organization levels emerge from the self-organizing interactions
of basic units.
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