Re: [Swarm-Modelling] short reading list for IBMs/ABMs in ecology?

[gross]

Alex,
    On the specific topic you mentioned (compare and constrast ABM/IBM to 
classical models), I suggest you might include the paper by 
Lorenz Fahse, Christian Wissel, and Volker Grimm 
"Reconciling classical and individual-based approaches in theoretical
population ecology:  a protocol for extracting population
parameters from individual-based models" published in American 
Naturalist 152:838-852 (Dec. 1998) available through Jstor. 
Volker Grimm and colleagues have published alot more on this topic
since then, but that paper lays out a good framework for the topic 
you mentioned. Note that Eli Meir has been working on a whole
book on this topic as well, based around what he has learned from
developing Ecobeaker - I don't think the book is out yet though. 
    Regarding what pre-dated Swarm, you should realize that Swarm has 
been around in one form or another for a long time - I first saw 
a demo of it when we invited Dave Hiebeler here for a visit in 
mid-1994, at which time it was still at such a stage that we decided
for the ATLSS project to develop our own C++ code. 
    Good luck preparing for the exams!
    Best regards,
         Lou Gross
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
    and Mathematics
Director, The Institute for Environmental Modeling
University of Tennessee - Knoxville
address@hidden
http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~gross/
http://atlss.org/ (ATLSS Project Home Page)
http://archives.math.utk.edu/mathbio/ (Math Archives for Life Sciences)
http://www.tiem.utk.edu/bioed/ (Quantitative Life Sciences Education)