Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Glossary
Additional terms and definitions are available from www.mced-ecology.org
Agent-based Modelling Modelling concept which emerged predominantly in the
context of the social sciences to depict human interactions. It uses the same basic
concept as
individual-based modelling
(which emerged in ecology). Both terms can
be used synonymously.
Alternative Stable States Concept that describes ecological systems with
diverse stable states that depend on key drivers. The system can change from one
state to another (e.g. algae- vs. coral-dominated reef systems), when a critical
threshold is exceeded; this phenomenon is addressed as phase-shift or regime
shift (
!
hysteresis
).
Artificial Intelligence Visionary branch of informatics that deals with the autom-
atization of intelligent behaviour, important in research and development; origi-
nally based on the idea of mimicking human-like intelligence.
Autonomously Acting Agents Autonomously Acting Agents in
agent-based
modelling
, system behaviour emerges on the basis of the interaction of “agents”
which change their state as a response to external influences and their internal
conditions. The concept is comparable to individual-based modelling, in which the
low-level component is referred to as individual.
!
Bayesian Inference A method of modern statistics, based on the Bayses' Theo-
rem, which describes the relation of two reverse conditional probabilities.
Beer-Lambert Function Basic absorptiometric law that describes the absorption
of light dependent on the concentration of an absorbing component in the material
through which the light is travelling.
Black-Box Approach In general, this is any kind of machinery or construct in
which only input/output relations are focused on, without requiring considerations
of internal operation.
