Empirical characterisation of agent behaviours in socio-ecological systems

Smajgl, Alex; Brown, Daniel G.; Valbuena, Diego; Huigen, Marco

doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2011.02.011

Cited by 196 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…In addition, role playing games (RPGs) have been used in many research studies to collect information about stakeholders' perceptions of the situation depicted in the modeled landscape, including decision-making rules and behaviors (Robinson et al 2007;Smajgl et al 2011;Villamor and van Noordwijk 2011). They have also been used to test scenarios, facilitate negotiation support and validate multi-agent simulation (MAS) models (Castella et al 2005;D' Aquino et al 2003;Villamor 2012).…”

Section: Gender and Land Use Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender influences decisions to change land use practices in the tropical forest margins of Jambi, Indonesia

Villamor

Amaruzaman

Noordwijk

2013

Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change

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This study explores the role of gender as a factor in decision making about alternative land use options and in responses to new investment opportunities, which has received little attention to date. An observational study to determine the different factors affecting male and female decisions to change land use at the individual level in a forest margin landscape in Jambi (Sumatra, Indonesia) was combined with a set of role playing games (RPGs) designed to assess participant responses in a simulated social setting of women-only and men-only groups. The RPG included simulated agents offering new opportunities to convert or conserve agroforest. In the study area, rubber (Hevea braziliensis) agroforests that support high biodiversity and carbon storage are giving way to monoculture rubber and oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations. When women from both the upland and lowland villages played the RPGs, external investors proposing logging or oil palm conversion were approached very positively and the resulting land use change was more dynamic and extensive than in the equivalent men-only groups. Consequently, women outperformed men in achieving income targets. In lowland areas gender is strongly associated with land use change, while in the uplands the level of conservation awareness plays a more crucial role in the maintenance of rubber agroforests. Based on the data, and contrary to expectations and gender stereotypes, it is expected that the greater involvement of women in landscape level decision making will increase emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the area, posing further challenges to efforts to reduce such emissions.

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Section: Gender and Land Use Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender influences decisions to change land use practices in the tropical forest margins of Jambi, Indonesia

Villamor

Amaruzaman

Noordwijk

2013

Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change

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“…In an ABM agents perform actions based on predefined rules in a bounded world. To resemble the real world in ABM, parameterization of action rules is preferably made with empirical data, although many applications still rely on stylistic or assumed parameter values (Smajgl et al 2011).…”

Section: Participatory Agent-based Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural landscapes of the future: using agent-based modeling to discuss and develop the use and management of the cultural landscape of South West Devon

Tieskens¹,

Shaw

Haer³

et al. 2017

Landscape Ecol

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Context Hedgerows are typical landscape features of high environmental and cultural value that often have been sacrificed for agricultural intensification and scale enlargement. Objectives We studied the dynamics of hedgerow quality over time in a case study area renowned for its hedgerow landscapes: South West Devon (UK) answering the following research questions: (1) how does the imperative of scale enlargement affect hedgerow quality? and (2) to what extent can cultural landscape degradation be countered by targeted policies? Methods We applied an agent-based modeling approach, parameterized with a site specific survey, to explore and discuss outcomes of future landscape change with stakeholders and co-designed preferred scenarios of landscape change during a workshop. Results Outcomes suggested that in the case-study area, scale enlargement has a negative effect on hedgerow quality when agri-environment scheme subsidies (AES) are low. In contrast, if the level of AES enrollment is high, scale enlargement can have a positive effect on hedgerow quality, as large holders are more likely to enroll for AES. Stakeholders acknowledged the need for agricultural intensification, but at the same time valued biodiversity and environmental value of the landscape in South West Devon. Conclusion Current AES are able to retain a decent hedgerow quality. With lower AES, scale enlargement can have an invigorative effect on hedgerow quality as land managers of larger farms will be less likely to join AES As an addition to AES, harvesting wood fuel from coppiced hedgerows appears a promising way to incentivize rejuvenating hedgerow management without governmental subsidies.

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“…The agent attributes and behavioral response functions in an ABM require knowledge from empirical sources (Smajgl, Brown, Valbuena, & Huigen, 2011). In the development of an empirical ABM, two fundamental steps are required: development of appropriate behavioral categories, and scaling the real-world sample to the whole ABM population level.…”

Section: Parameterization Of the Abmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the development of an empirical ABM, two fundamental steps are required: development of appropriate behavioral categories, and scaling the real-world sample to the whole ABM population level. The population size (i.e., the total number of agents in the ABM) can be anywhere from 20 to many millions, and therefore it becomes necessary to collect empirical data from a sample of the realworld population, which will represent the agents in the ABM (Smajgl, Brown, Valbuena, & Huigen, 2011). Therefore, the first step in the parameterization framework includes collecting the empirical data from the sample of population under study.…”

Section: Parameterization Of the Abmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Up-scaling can be done in two ways (Smajgl, Brown, Valbuena, & Huigen, 2011;Berger & Schreinemachers, 2006 2) Disproportionally -If the sample can't be assumed to be correct representation of the whole population, alternative approaches (e.g., Monte Carlo Approach, using census and GIS data) are employed.…”

Section: Table 2 Behavioral Response Of Four Clusters To Six Attribumentioning

Empirical characterisation of agent behaviours in socio-ecological systems

Cited by 196 publications

References 33 publications

Gender influences decisions to change land use practices in the tropical forest margins of Jambi, Indonesia

Gender influences decisions to change land use practices in the tropical forest margins of Jambi, Indonesia

Cultural landscapes of the future: using agent-based modeling to discuss and develop the use and management of the cultural landscape of South West Devon

Hybrid simulation modeling for regional food systems

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