Agent-based simulation modeling in primate behavioral ecology: History and recent applications

Agent-based simulation modeling is routinely used in some areas of social and biological sciences research, but (with a few notable exceptions) the approach has not often been applied to the study of primate grouping behavior and social dynamics.  This is somewhat surprising, given that agent-based simulations provide a powerful tool for developing null models of interactions between animals and for addressing at least some of the limitations inherent in trying to test existing socioecological and behavioral models in wild populations.

In this talk, I will give a brief history of the application of agent based simulation modeling in studies of nonhuman primate group patterns, social interactions, and foraging ecology and discuss some interesting implications of this work.  I will then outline some of my own recent work developing a spatially-explicit agent-based simulation model (“Sim-Primate”) for exploring the influence of a variety of ranging, foraging, and social behavioral “rules” on the grouping patterns and spatial dynamics of simulated primate agents.