IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecomod/v210y2008i1p15-36.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Developing an artificial ecology for use as a strategic management tool: A case study of ibex hunting in the North Tien Shan

Author

Listed:
  • Ling, Stephen
  • Milner-Gulland, E.J.

Abstract

We develop an artificial ecology that simulates the interaction between hunter decisions and prey behaviour, using ibex hunting in the North Tien Shan Mountains as a case study. The aim is to model hunter and prey behaviour at a low enough level that overall population dynamics and hunter costs are emergent properties of the system rather than being assumed, as is usually the case. A genetic algorithm linked to artificial neural networks is used to evolve hunter decisions about where to hunt. We demonstrate the importance of the number of people hunting, which is determined by the profitability of hunting, as a key driver of system dynamics. A fundamental difference emerges between outcomes on approach to equilibrium, and after stochastic equilibrium had been reached, with extinction being common on approach and virtually non-existent thereafter. This probably reflects naive ibex behaviour on commencement of hunting. The framework developed here is flexible and transferable, and is particularly useful for the strategic testing of management strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ling, Stephen & Milner-Gulland, E.J., 2008. "Developing an artificial ecology for use as a strategic management tool: A case study of ibex hunting in the North Tien Shan," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 210(1), pages 15-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:210:y:2008:i:1:p:15-36
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.06.031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380007003535
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.06.031?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. E. A. Catchpole & B. J. T. Morgan & T. N. Coulson & S. N. Freeman & S. D. Albon, 2000. "Factors influencing Soay sheep survival," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 49(4), pages 453-472.
    2. Little, L.R. & McDonald, A.D., 2007. "Simulations of agents in social networks harvesting a resource," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 204(3), pages 379-386.
    3. Tews, Joerg & Ferguson, Michael A.D. & Fahrig, Lenore, 2007. "Potential net effects of climate change on High Arctic Peary caribou: Lessons from a spatially explicit simulation model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 207(2), pages 85-98.
    4. Trond Bjorndal & Jon M. Conrad, 1987. "The Dynamics of an Open Access Fishery," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 20(1), pages 74-85, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dawid, Herbert & Kopel, Michael, 1997. "On the Economically Optimal Exploitation of a Renewable Resource: The Case of a Convex Environment and a Convex Return Function," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 272-297, October.
    2. Allen, Robert C. & Keay, Ian, 2001. "The First Great Whale Extinction: The End of the Bowhead Whale in the Eastern Arctic," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 448-477, October.
    3. Ikerne del Valle & Inmaculada Astorkiza & Kepa Astorkiza, 2001. "Is the Current Regulation of the VIII Division European Anchovy Optimal?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 19(1), pages 53-72, May.
    4. S. P. Brooks & E. A. Catchpole & B. J. T. Morgan & M. P. Harris, 2002. "Bayesian methods for analysing ringing data," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1-4), pages 187-206.
    5. Quaas, Martin F. & Froese, Rainer & Herwartz, Helmut & Requate, Till & Schmidt, Jörn O. & Voss, Rüdiger, 2012. "Fishing industry borrows from natural capital at high shadow interest rates," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 45-52.
    6. Julio Peña-Torres & Michael Basch & Sebastian Vergara, "undated". "Downward Adjustments in a Cyclical Environment: The Case of Chilean Pelagic Fisheries," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv143, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    7. Bulte, Erwin H., 2003. "Open access harvesting of wildlife: the poaching pit and conservation of endangered species," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 27-37, January.
    8. George Seber & Carl Schwarz, 2002. "Capture-recapture: Before and after EURING 2000," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1-4), pages 5-18.
    9. Lei Cheng & Lei Shi & Yuxi Xie & Weihua Zeng, 2020. "Restructuring China’s Water Environment Management System: A Social Network Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    10. Johannus Janmaat, 2012. "Fishing in a Shallow Lake: Exploring a Classic Fishery Model in a Habitat with Shallow Lake Dynamics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(2), pages 215-239, February.
    11. Apriesnig, Jenny L. & Warziniack, Travis W. & Finnoff, David C. & Zhang, Hongyan & Lee, Katherine D. & Mason, Doran M. & Rutherford, Edward S., 2022. "The consequences of misrepresenting feedbacks in coupled human and environmental models," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    12. L. Doyen & A. Cissé & S. Gourguet & L. Mouysset & P.-Y. Hardy & C. Béné & F. Blanchard & F. Jiguet & J.-C. Pereau & O. Thébaud, 2013. "Ecological-economic modelling for the sustainable management of biodiversity," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 353-364, December.
    13. Ana González Galán & Juan José García del Hoyo & Félix García Ordaz, 2021. "Investment and Decapitalization in the Fishing Industry: The Case of the Spanish Crustacean Freezer Trawler Fleet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-22, August.
    14. Ben White, 2000. "A Review of the Economics of Biological Natural Resources," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(3), pages 419-462, September.
    15. R. King & S. P. Brooks & B. J. T. Morgan & T. Coulson, 2006. "Factors Influencing Soay Sheep Survival: A Bayesian Analysis," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 62(1), pages 211-220, March.
    16. Julio Peña Torres & Claudio Agostini & Sebastián Vergara, 2005. "'El Niño' Effects and Biomass Endogeneity in a Harvest Function: The Chilean Jack Mackerel Fishery," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv160, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    17. Lone Grønbæk Kronbak, 2002. "The Dynamics of an Open Access: The case of the Baltic Sea Cod Fishery - A Strategic Approach -," Working Papers 31/02, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics.
    18. Wilen, James E., 2000. "Renewable Resource Economists and Policy: What Differences Have We Made?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 306-327, May.
    19. Manuel Coelho & Jose Antonio Filipe & Manuel Alberto M. Ferreira & Rui Junqueira Lopes, 2013. "Extinction Revisited: “Allee Effect” and Irreversibility in “Schooling” Fisheries," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 3(1), pages 405-405.
    20. Little, L. Richard & Punt, André E. & Mapstone, Bruce D. & Begg, Gavin A. & Goldman, Barry & Williams, Ashley J., 2009. "An agent-based model for simulating trading of multi-species fisheries quota," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(23), pages 3404-3412.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:210:y:2008:i:1:p:15-36. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-modelling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.