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Ecosystem Simulation Models

© Adam Hughes

Last week, we began to look at the use of scientific computing for simulating various ecosystems, with an eye toward understanding how these types of studies might be used to better examine our own environment. This week, we'll begin looking at some of the models typically used in ecosystem simulation. For this discussion, we'll draw on the models presented by researchers at the University of Florida and the Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, FL. Their web site can be viewed at http://www.unicamp.br/fea/ortega/java.

One parameter which must be considered in an ecosystem simulation is the growth of the population of inhabitants, and the variables upon which that growth occurs. Basically, there are two possibilities : growth dependent on renewable resources and growth dependent on non-renewable resources. Generally, biological systems are viewed as persisting in an environment with renewable resources, such as water, plant life (food), and sunlight. However, in some systems, and especially as inhabitants become more complex, non-renewable resources take on more importance. Humans, for example, consume great quantities of metal ore (consume, not ingest!) in our quest for progress and luxuries. These ores are, ostensibly, non- renewable resources in that once they're gone, they're gone. Barring a renaissance in alchemy, the amount of gold on the Earth is pretty much a fixed, if unknown, quantity.

There are, as you might expect, variants to the types of resources discussed above. One of these is the slowly renewable resource. An example would be wood products, which ARE renewable, with the source of replenishment not immediately available. It takes a while to grow a forest, after all. In addition, there are often limiting factors to the renewal of resources. The number ofhealthy, ambitious lumberjacks, for example can have a profound effect on the amount of wood available to a population. Since the lumberjacks aren't necessarily part of the community they serve, this is an example of an external limiting factor. If we're looking at a closed system, then formation of recycling products can be an internal limiting factor.

Of course, the use of resources has consequences, those being consumption and production. Humans, for example, consume oxygen, food, and space, and often produce carbon dioxide, goods and services, and indentations on our sofa cushions. Any ecosystem simulation must include some model of the consumption and production patterns of its inhabitants.

Next week, we'll continue exploring various models included in ecosystem simulation.

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