Agents as a Decision Support Tool in Environmental Processes: The State of the Art

Abstract

Agent-based systems have become an important area of research since the 1990s. They have been applied to a range of domains that are intrinsically complex. Among these, environmental problems are of special concern, given their ample affectation to our societies and everyday quality of life. This report provides a review of agent-based systems applied to environmental problems of diverse nature. The usefulness of Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) to model complex systems that embed multiple and dynamic interactions, such as in environmental processes, is revealed.

An agent-based platform for simulating complex human–aquifer interactions in managed groundwater systems

“…This contrasts with the large number of publications coupling ABMs with other biophysical models Aulinas et al, 2009;Balbi and Giupponi, 2009;Bousquet and Le Page, 2004;Gunkel, 2005;Heath et al, 2009;Kelly et al, 2013). Early work on GW-ABMs reports lumped aquifer models implemented on an ABM grid (Carlin et al, 2007;Dray et al, 2006;Feuillette et al, 2003;Guilfoos et al, 2013;Heckbert et al, 2006;Moglia et al, 2010;Perez et al, 2003;Smajgl et al, 2009).…”

“…They are given to illustrate how coupled social-groundwater dynamics can be simulated with the platform, to describe how those processes are conceptualised into a GW-ABM and to show how the workflow is enhanced by the NetLogo environment. We have intentionally used simple behavioural rules to facilitate the interpretation of the model, and to show that complex group behaviours can emerge from the interaction of individual agents operating on such simple rules (Arthur, 2014;Aulinas et al, 2009;Epstein, 2014;Epstein and Axtell, 1996;Miller and Page, 2009;Smaldino and Epstein, 2014).…”

“…Agent-based models (ABMs) have come forth as a way to model, as opposed to simplify, the complexity of socio-ecological systems (Aulinas et al, 2009;Bousquet and Le Page, 2004;Kelly et al, 2013;Parker et al, 2003). ABMs use the concept of an 'agent' (a computational representation of real-world actor) to simulate behaviours and interactions of decision-making entities, including feedbacks between human and environmental processes, physical and institutional constraints, and the different spatiotemporal scales in which these dynamics unfold (Miller and Page, 2009).…”

Multi-Agent Based Simulation of Environmental Pollution Issues: A Review

“…[2] Argues that the detection of macro-behaviours helps understanding the complex physical and ecological phenomena. MAS model is based on the fundamental principle of representing the interactions; in our case, between social-economic and ecological dynamics.…”

Water Quality Monitoring Systems Based on Intelligent Agents: A Systematic Literature Review

“…4. Agents as a Decision Support Tool in Environmental Processes: The State of the Art (2009) [8]. The authors focus on environmental problems and how much they affect current society, such as water pollution (including oceans, rivers, lakes, etc.…”