EMERGENT FEATURES IN A GENERAL FOOD WEB SIMULATION: LOTKA–VOLTERRA, GAUSE'S LAW, AND THE PARADOX OF ENRICHMENT

Ted Carmichael () and Mirsad Hadzikadic ()
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Ted Carmichael: Department of Software and Information Systems, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28213, USA;
Mirsad Hadzikadic: Department of Software and Information Systems, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28213, USA

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), 2013, vol. 16, issue 08, 1-23

Abstract: Computer simulations of complex food-webs are important tools for deepening our understanding of these systems. Yet most computer models assume, rather than generate, key system-level patterns, or use mathematical modeling approaches that make it difficult to fully account for nonlinear dynamics. In this paper, we present a computer simulation model that addresses these concerns by focusing on assumptions of agentattributesrather than agentoutcomes. Our model utilizes the techniques of complex adaptive systems and agent-based modeling so that system level patterns of a marine ecosystem emerge from the interactions of thousands of individual computer agents. This methodology is validated by using this general simulation model to replicate fundamental properties of a marine ecosystem, including: (i) the predator–prey oscillations found in Lotka–Volterra; (ii) the stepped pattern of biomass accrual from resource enrichment; (iii) the Paradox of Enrichment; and (iv) Gause's Law.

Keywords: Complex adaptive systems; agent based model; individual based model; Lotka–Volterra; simulation; food web; Gause's law; paradox of enrichment; resilience; population dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:acsxxx:v:16:y:2013:i:08:n:s0219525913500148

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DOI: 10.1142/S0219525913500148

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