Agent-Based Modelling of Social-Ecological Systems: Achievements, Challenges, and a Way Forward
By: Jule Thober, Birgit Müller, Jürgen Groeneveld, Volker Grimm, Volume 20 (2)
Abstract: Understanding social-ecological systems (SES) is crucial to supporting the sustainable management of resources. Agent-based modelling is a valuable tool to achieve this because it can represent the behaviour and interactions of organisms, human actors and institutions. Agent-based models (ABMs) have therefore already been widely used to study SES. However, ABMs of SES are by their very nature complex. They are therefore difficult to parameterize and analyse, which can limit their usefulness. It is time to critically reflect upon the current state-of-the-art to evaluate to what degree the poten ...

An Agent-Based Model for Simulating Inter-Settlement Trade in Past Societies
By: Angelos Chliaoutakis, Georgios Chalkiadakis, Volume 23 (3)
Abstract: Social and computational archaeology focuses largely on the study of past societies and the evolution of human behaviour. At the same time, agent-based models (ABMs) allow the efficient modeling of human agency, and the quantitative representation and exploration of specific properties and patterns in archaeological information. In this work we put forward a novel agent-based trading model, for simulating the exchange and distribution of resources across settlements in past societies. The model is part of a broader ABM populated with autonomous, utility-seeking agents corresponding to ho ...