Evolution of migration behavior with multi-agent simulation

Abstract

We describe an artificial ecosystem consisting of five areas, evolving artificial creatures (called agents), and foods for the agents. The ecosystem was constructed for an analysis of migration behavior of the Monarch butterfly. We also report our simulation results on the emergence of the migration biology pertaining to the Monarch butterfly. We use real temperature data as an environmental parameter to define the environment in the field. To adapt to the environment, the agents have temperature sensors. We conducted two experiments using this ecosystem. The results show that the biology of the Monarch butterfly has been well modeled by the ecosystem and our evolutionary method. © 2008 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.