Leveraging coupled agent-based models to explore the resilience of tightly-coupled land use systems

Abstract

This chapter argues that agent-based models (ABMs) possess an inherent advantage for modeling and exploring the general and specified resilience of social-ecological systems. Coupled systems are often complex adaptive systems, and the ability of ABMs to integrate heterogeneous actors, dynamic couplings, and processes across spatiotemporal scales is vital to understanding resilience in the context of complexity theory. To that end, we present the results of a preliminary stylized model designed to explore resilience concepts in an agricultural land use system. We then identify strengths and opportunities for further ABM development, and outline future work to integrate empirically-parameterized agent behavioral rules with robust biophysical models to explore resilience and complexity.