B2. Advances in agent-based modelling of complex biological, ecological and agricultural systems

Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) has long been applied to the study of complex phenomena in social sciences. Over the last decade, it has been widely adopted across many scientific fields for the study of biological, ecological and agricultural systems. Agent-Based models provide a rich environment for the experimentation and analysis of these systems at different levels of complexity by conceptually breaking them down into individual interacting components. This session provides a forum for the dissemination of advances in applying the agent-based modelling approach to the development of simulation systems in biology, ecology and agriculture. Submissions addressing the scientific challenges of modelling these systems using the ABM paradigm and novel approaches for dealing with the technical challenges in implementing these models are especially welcomed. Areas of interests, not necessarily exhaustive, include geo-spatial agent-based models, hybrid models, model validation and verification, integration with commercial off-the-shelf or open source Geographical Information Systems, optimization techniques, ABM-enhanced Decision Support Systems, and mobile applications.