This book will teach researchers and students interested in spatial modeling how to simulate the complex dynamics of landscapes. Managers and decision makers will acquire tools for predicting changes in landscapes. The authors cover spatial modeling, from conceptual design, through formal implementation and analysis, to the interpretation of the results.

Klappentext

The world consists of many complex systems, ranging from our own bodies to ecosystems to economic systems. Despite their diversity, complex systems have many structural and functional features in common that can be effectively si- lated using powerful, user-friendly software. As a result, virtually anyone can - plore the nature of complex systems and their dynamical behavior under a range of assumptions and conditions. This ability to model dynamic systems is already having a powerful influence on teaching and studying complexity. The books in this series will promote this revolution in "systems thinking" by integrating computational skills of numeracy and techniques of dynamic mod- ing into a variety of disciplines. The unifying theme across the series will be the power and simplicity of the model-building process, and all books are designed to engage the reader in developing their own models for exploration of the dyn- ics of systems that are of interest to them. Modeling Dynamic Systems does not endorse any particular modeling paradigm or software. Rather, the volumes in the series will emphasize simplicity of lea- ing, expressive power, and the speed of execution as priorities that will facilitate deeper system understanding.

Inhalt

Part 1: Theory and Methods * Introduction: Spatially Explicit Landscape Simulation Models * Modular Ecosystem Modeling * Spatial Simulation using the SME * Calibration of Large Spatial Models: A Multi-Stage, Multi-Objective Optimization Technique * Part 2: Case Studies * Habitat Changes in the Mississippi Delta: Future Scenarios and Alternatives * Development and Application of the Everglades Landscape Model * Spatial Modeling of Eelgrass Distribution in Great Bay, New Hampshire * The Patuxent Landscape Model: Integrated Modeling of a Watershed * The Fort Hood Avian Simulation Model-V: A Spatially Explicit Population Viability Model for Two Endangered Species * Simulating Land Use Alternatives and Their Impacts on a Desert Tortoise Population in the Mojave Desert, California * A Dynamic Model of the Spatial Spread of an Infectious Disease: The Case of Fox Rabies in Illinois * Landscape Optimization: Applications of a Spatial Ecosystem Model