Disturbance and Succession - Potential of Agent-based Systems for Modelling Vulnerable Ecosystems Application to Land Degradation Processes

摘要

Multi-agent-systems (MAS) and Cellular Automata (CA) allow not only the schematic simulation of environmental processes but also the integration of real datasets and biological knowledge. This combination can be an effective method for the modelling of the behaviour and development of vegetation after strong land disturbance. This study is a bottom-up approach creating a model which is able to integrate different kinds of data in order to simulate the process of secondary plant succession. It can be supplemented and adapted according to the interest of the modeller and to the study area and its regional conditions. Though there are still some hurdles to be got over, it has nevertheless been a successful first attempt for further investigations to gain information about the process of land degradation that occurred in the Chinese province of Yunnan due to intensive copper-mining during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912).