Testing the adaptive value of behavioral traits in virtual environmentsR. PottingDepartment of Entomology, University of Wageningen, Wageningen, The NetherlandsIndividual-based simulation of behavior is becoming a popular tool to study the large-scale consequences of local interactions of members of a population and to study the adaptive value of individual behavioral traits. In these simulations individuals might represent animals in ecosystems, vehicles in traffic or humans in crowds. In an individual-based model behavioral traits and information processing rules of individuals are specified to simulate the behavioral decisons, movements and interactions of individuals in a specified virtual environment. An overview is given on the applications of individual-based models in biology and ecology and artificial human societies. Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2005 , 5th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands. © 2005 Noldus Information Technology bv |