Call for Papers

Ecological Complexity http://ees.elsevier.com/ecocom/ is pleased to 
announce a special issue on:
 
Environmental micro-simulation: From data approximation to theory 
assessment

Guest Editors 
Tal Svoray, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, [log in to unmask]
Itzhak Benenson, Tel Aviv University, [log in to unmask]

Spatial micro-simulation has recently become a mainstream element in 
environmental studies. Essentially, different models, representing the 
same phenomena, are being extensively published and the “next step” sought 
is hypothesis testing, regarding the factors that determine system 
dynamics. 
However, the problem arises that assessment of environmental theories 
using spatial micro-simulation lacks a leading paradigm. While the Occam’s 
razor of positivism, which works perfectly in physics and chemistry, 
demands datasets covering the entire space of model parameters, the 
experimental abilities of environmentalists are limited and the data 
collected in the field represent only a small part of the always multi-
dimensional parameter space. Consequently, any given model can be 
considered as merely approximating the few data sets available for 
verification and its theoretical validity is thus brought into question. 
To overcome this limitation, we propose to generate a virtual world that 
will allow hypothesis testing based on environmental theory. That is, we 
propose to implement micro-simulation models using high-resolution GIS 
database and use them as a surrogate for reality, instead of the limited 
empirical database. GIS enables a realistically looking virtual world to 
be generated that, unlike the real one, provides the parameters 
characteristic of every trajectory. The almost unlimited data that can be 
generated from such a virtual world can then be used to assess our ability 
to extract rules and dependencies, estimate parameters and, finally, make 
applicable forecasts.
This special issue will focus on investigating models as representations 
of environmental theory with the help of a combination of real data and 
artificial worlds. We invite innovative research papers that employ 
different high-resolution models for generating virtual worlds, comparing 
them to each other, with the aim being to develop a better understanding 
of environmental theory. Examples can be studies of a model’s robustness, 
a comparative study of dynamic models, investigation of the limitations of 
data fitting methods and of a model’s sensitivity to changes in spatial 
and temporal resolution. 
Scope 
All sorts of micro-simulation, including cellular automata, agent-based 
systems, fuzzy systems, ANN and genetic algorithms, are welcome. The 
environmental systems of interest include, but are not limited, to: 
•	Complex ecosystems 
•	Landscape ecology
•	Terrain analysis and landscape evolution 
•	Agriculture and pastoralism 
•	Human-environment interaction
•	Land-use and land-cover changes
•	Urban dynamics
Submission instructions
Abstracts of 2 pages in length should be submitted to the Guest Editors by 
July 1, 2007. The review process of those abstracts considered to be the 
most relevant will continue and authors will be required to upload the 
full manuscript to the Ecological Complexity website by November 1, 2007.