One of the main reasons for this web site is for us to collect
feedback from people using our book and materials.
If you have any comments or suggestions please email them to us
at:
authors@railsback-grimm-abm-book.com
We are especially keen to hear from instructors using the book—or considering
it—to teach classes.
How can we support you better? Do you have things to contribute, such as new
example models, exercises, and project ideas? However, we also like very much
to hear the experience of individuals using our book to teach
themselves. As the book is used more and this site matures, we will find
ways to share useful information among users.
This book would not have been possible without all the
experience, wisdom, and skill that has gone into NetLogo.
More information about our first book Individual-based
Modeling and Ecology is available from Princeton University Press. The book
is available from Princeton and bookstores.
OpenABM is an on-line agent-based modeling forum that scientific modelers
should take advantage of. It provides announcements and events, and a large library of models
contributed by users. Many of the models are in NetLogo and described using the ODD protocol.
OpenABM is part of the Network for Computational Modeling for SocioEcological Science.
Our close friend and collaborator Uta Berger coordinates the
Summer School in Individual- and Agent-based Modeling
at Dresden University of Technology, where much of this
book's content has been developed and tested. This series of short-courses is intended
primarily to teach graduate students how to use agent-based modeling in
their research. If you fit that description, we encourage you to
visit the course web site.
The individual-based ecological modeling site at
Humboldt State University.
Volker Grimm's home page.
Those of you interested in economics are strongly encouraged to see all the
useful materials at our friend Dr. Leigh Tesfatsion's
Agent-based Computational Economics site.
This site was designed by our friends at Carson Park
Design.
The simulation graphics on this site are courtesy of Roger
Jovani, and from the model described in: Jovani & Grimm 2008.
Breeding synchrony in colonial birds: from local stress to global
harmony. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 275:
1557-1563. The photo of breeding gannets is by Ivy
Dawned. The graphic link at the bottom right of the home page is
from a model that Steve Railsback and Matt Johnson
of Humboldt State built to study how forest habitat in coffee plantations affects the ability of migratory songbirds
to control a major pest, the coffee borer beetle
(Railsback and Johnson. 2011. Pattern-oriented modeling of bird foraging and
pest control in coffee farms. Ecological Modelling 222:3305-3319.)
The cover art on our book is Orange
Haiku, a 2010 painting by the wonderful artist Astrid Preston. (Her painting Topiary Garden is on
the cover of our 2005 book.) To us, much of her work conveys the
basic idea of agent-based modeling: a system (landscape, forest, etc.) made up
of unique individuals that are
represented very simply but retain just enough "essence" of reality to be
instantly recognizable. We thank her very much for letting us use her work.
You will certainly enjoy
a visit to her on-line gallery.