An agent-based approach to food web assembly

TL;DR

This paper introduces an agent-based model that simulates food web assembly, aligning with existing population dynamics models, allowing for evolutionary and individual-based dynamics to be studied together.

Contribution

It presents a novel agent-based approach that integrates population dynamics with food web assembly, enabling detailed evolutionary simulations.

Findings

The model replicates the population dynamics of the Webworld model.

Large communities of species can be grown without disrupting food web structure.

Optimal foraging strategies emerge through natural selection.

Abstract

An agent-based model of population dynamics is presented. The model has as its expected behaviour the population dynamics of the equation-based Webworld model, within which large communities of species can be grown on evolutionary time scales. Such communities can be used in the agent-based model without disrupting the food web structure, and hence a unified model of evolutionary time and individual-based dynamics can be realised. Individuals encounter potential prey, and optimal foraging strategies are arrived at through natural selection.