title: Pattern-oriented modeling of agent-based complex systems: lessons from ecology.
abstract: Agent-based complex systems are dynamic networks of many interacting agents; examples include ecosystems, financial markets, and cities. The search for general principles underlying the internal organization of such systems often uses bottom-up simulation models such as cellular automata and agent-based models. No general framework for designing, testing, and analyzing bottom-up models has yet been established, but recent advances in ecological modeling have come together in a general strategy we call pattern-oriented modeling. This strategy provides a unifying framework for decoding the internal organization of agent-based complex systems and may lead toward unifying algorithmic theories of the relation between adaptive behavior and system complexity.
authors.affiliation: UFZ Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig-Halle, Department Okologische Systemanalyse, PF 500 136, 04301 Leipzig, Germany. volker.grimm@ufz.de
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grimm
authors.forename: Eloy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Revilla
authors.forename: Uta
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jeltsch
authors.forename: Wolf M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Mooij
authors.forename: Steven F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Railsback
authors.forename: Hans-Hermann
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Thulke
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wiegand
authors.forename: Donald L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: DeAngelis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D018803:Models, Economic; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013598:Systems Theory; D014197:Trees; D035501:Uncertainty