Simulation as an approach to social-ecological integration, with an emphasis on agent-based modeling

Abstract

In past decades ecological and social science research took pathways that intersected in meaningful ways only infrequently. In ecology, humans were viewed as causes of change external to the systems of interest, or as sources of variation controlled for in experiments so that human influences could be ignored. In anthropological research, ecological settings have been explored and debated as a means to understand human evolution, societal development and power over resources (e.g., Orlove 1980 ; Watts 1997 ; Boyd and Richerson 2005 ). Concepts were mutually borrowed by each discipline from the other (e.g., evolution, niche theory, commons theory), but active integration was uncommon and sometimes even discouraged. The roles that humans play as components of systems became a focus in the second half of the last century, and queries with humans considered as a component of ecosystems were more common (e.g., Rappaport 1967 ; Liverman et al. 1998 ; Little and Leslie 1999 ) (see Sect. 9.3 ). However this systems view of humans did not allow for agency or diversity and was highly criticized in the social sciences (e.g., Moran 2008 ). Today, questions regarding sustainability are so broad in scope and outcomes so important to societies that scientific fields are being invented to address new questions about linkages within systems (see Part I of this volume). An example of institutional recognition of the importance of understanding these linkages is in the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems competition in the US National Science Foundation. Each year millions of dollars are put to increasing our understanding of linkages between humans and the ecosystems they inhabit.