XIV
Contents
4. Ecological Applications of Evolutionary Computation ........ .49
4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 49
4.2 Ecological Modelling ............................................................................ 50
4.2.1
The Challenges of Ecological Modelling ...................................... 50
4.2.2
Summary ........................................................................................ 52
4.3 Evolutionary Computation .................................................................... 52
4.3.1
The Basic Evolutionary Algorithm ................................................ 54
4.3.2
Summary ........................................................................................ 57
4.4 Ecological Modelling and Evolutionary Algorithms ............................ 57
4.4.1
Equation Discovery ....................................................................... 57
4.4.2
Optimisation of Difference Equations ........................................... 58
4.4.3
Evolving Differential Equations .................................................... 59
4.4.4
Rule Discovery .............................................................................. 60
4.4.5
Modelling Individual and Cooperative Behaviour ......................... 61
4.4.6
Predator-Prey Algorithms .............................................................. 64
4.4.7
Modelling Hierarchical Ecosystems .............................................. 65
4.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 66
References ............................................................................................. 66
5. Ecological Applications of Adaptive Agents .......................... 73
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 73
5.2 Adaptive Agents Framework ................................................................ 74
5.3 Individual-Based Adaptive Agents ....................................................... 76
5.4 State Variable-Based Adaptive Agents ................................................. 78
5.4.1
Algal Species Simulation by Adaptive Agents .............................. 80
5.4.1.1 Embodiment of Evolutionary Computation in Agents .................. 80
5.4.1.2 Adaptive Agents Bank ................................................................... 81
5.4.2
Pelagic Food Web Simulation by Adaptive Agents ....................... 85
5.5 Conclusions ........................................................................................... 86
Acknowledgements ............................................................................... 86
References ............................................................................................. 87
Part 11
Prediction and Elucidation of Stream
Ecosystems ........................................................................ 89
6. Development and Application of Predictive River Ecosystem
Models Based On Classification Trees and Artificial Neural
Networks ..................................................................................... 91
6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 91
6.2 Study Sites, Data Sources and Modelling Techniques .......................... 92
6.2.1
The Zwalm River Basin ................................................................. 92
6.2.2
Data Collection .............................................................................. 93
6.2.3
Classification Trees ....................................................................... 94
6.2.4
Artificial Neural Networks ............................................................ 95
6.2.5
Model Assessment ......................................................................... 96