ALMaSS: A Systems Simulation Approach to Environmental & Wildlife Management.
Online: October 18-22, 2021
ALMaSS is a model system comprised of primarily agent-based models. It is a flexible tool to address questions about landscape management, impacts on selected wildlife and much more.
What sets ALMaSS apart is its utilization of dynamic landscapes simulation: a representation of virtual socio-ecological systems which change in space and time.
In 2020, the Social-Ecological Systems Simulations Centre (SESS) was established as a part of Aarhus University, Department of Bioscience, Kalø, Denmark. The SESS centre is led by professor Christopher J. Topping who has been developing ALMaSS for the last 25 years.
SESS strives to become a center of excellence, leading international scientific advances that focus on theory and practice of simulation of social-ecological systems.
SESS works with ALMaSS, data sets from GIS, agricultural /farming systems and weather, and have life cycle models for diverse species of insects, bird and mammals, as well as people.
Course Topics
- Agent-based modelling. Introduction to agents, species modelling, the model cycle and model development steps as well as ALMaSS main components
- Sub-population modelling. Introduction to modelling particular species as subpopulations in ALMaSS
- Landscape modelling. The roles of an ALMaSS landscape model and its core properties, the significance of agricultural areas and their management in ALMaSS
- Pesticide Risk assessment. Environmental risk assessment (ERA) for populations, and introduction of pesticide modelling in ALMaSS
- Modelling workflows. The ALMaSS toolchain and a general background to modelling workflows in ALMaSS
- Human modelling. Introduction to multi-criteria decision-making and modelling the human species in ALMaSS
Course Format
The Training Schoold will be online though Zoom platform and will be taught in English.
Lectures will take place during morning hours and Hand-on sessions during the afternoon (CET).
Lecturers
- Professor Christopher J. Topping is an ecological modeller with 30+ years modelling experience. He is the instigator and main developer of ALMaSS, and leads the SESS centre at Aarhus University.
- Postdoc Xiaodong Duan has a background in machine leaning and agent based modelling. He works on development of new species in ALMaSS, and model validation and sensitivity analysis.
- Assistant professor Elżbieta Ziółkowska has a background in physical geography with expertise in GIS&T and spatial modelling. She supports and coordinates development of ALMaSS landscapes.
- Postdoc James H. Williams is a social scientist. He specializes in researching and applying theoretical concepts in decision-making processes for nature resource management.
- Academic employee Luna K. Marcussen is M.Sc in biology, and has expertise in administration and coordination of SESS-involved projects. She also assists with ALMaSS updates in crop management