Of Mice and Men: What Rodent Populations Can Teach Us about Complex Spatial Dynamics

H Couclelis
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H Couclelis: Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA93106, USA

Environment and Planning A, 1988, vol. 20, issue 1, 99-109

Abstract: Models of complex systems need not be themselves complex, let alone complicated. To illustrate this important point, a very simple cellular automaton model of rodent population dynamics is used to generate a wide variety of different spatiotemporal structures corresponding to different forms of equilibrium, cyclical, quasi-cyclical, and chaotic system behavior. The issue of complexity as it pertains to a number of different contemporary scientific fields is then discussed, and in particular its implications for prediction. The discussion ends with some general reflexions about modeling in human geography.

Date: 1988
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:20:y:1988:i:1:p:99-109

DOI: 10.1068/a200099

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