Providing a Broad Spectrum of Agents in Spatially-Explicit Simulation Models

Research in natural resource management may be characterized as a search for an understanding of patterns and processes relating to a particular resource. Modelling is a crucial tool to these efforts: resource scientists use such models to help them conceptualize, understand, test, predict, or assess various aspects of the resource being studied [Walker and Cuff, 1988]. One central function, however, underlies all of these uses: a model simulates the way in which a real system would behave under conditions of interest to the user, and illustrates changes over time. Such a model may be used to determine the consequences of particular situations, leaving judgement of the attractiveness of those consequences to the user [Friedland, 1977]. Particularly in the case of complex ecosystems, such a model may also serve to clarify interactions and contribute to a deeper understanding of ecological phenomena [Gigon, 1987].