A Process Calculus for Spatially-explicit Ecological Models

TL;DR

PALPS is a novel process calculus designed for modeling and analyzing spatially-explicit, individual-based ecological systems, enabling reasoning about complex interactions and movements within populations.

Contribution

It introduces a two-level process algebra with probabilistic logic for ecological modeling, combining spatial behavior and interaction analysis.

Findings

Modeling of dispersal in metapopulations demonstrated

Framework enables formal reasoning about spatial ecological dynamics

Supports probabilistic analysis of individual-based models

Abstract

We propose PALPS, a Process Algebra with Locations for Population Systems. PALPS allows us to produce spatially-explicit, individual-based models and to reason about their behavior. Our calculus has two levels: at the first level we may define the behavior of an individual of a population while, at the second level, we may specify a system as the collection of individuals of various species located in space, moving through their life cycle while changing their location, if they so wish, and interacting with each other in various ways such as preying on each other. Furthermore, we propose a probabilistic temporal logic for reasoning about the behavior of PALPS processes. We illustrate our framework via models of dispersal in metapopulations.