Blank (Media) Slate

This is just a quick note pointing to an agent model I whipped up while playing with NetLogo. I know it’s a bit amateur, but the language and associated tools are just right for me to play around with rough idea sketches before taking them much further. Primarily being a learning tool as a stepping stone to real ABM techniques, it’s also heavy on pretty visuals which makes it fun to use.

The model is built on the NetLogo demo used to illustrate species energy consumption. It was modified to include variables controlling differences in the metabolisms of the “red” and “blue” species of their basic “turtles”. In this model, you can control the efficiency with which the red species converts food into energy during their life, and you can control how efficient only the larval stage is for the blue species.

I’d like to eventually add a predatory species to the model, along with attractive and repellent variables tied to specific species. It would be interesting to see how these added complexities modify the outcome. That being said, I really only built this model to get a handle on how to use the tool, so I’m not sure if I’ll revisit it.

Anyway, have fun playing with “Species Crowding Agent Model“. In the meantime, I’ll be working on more “serious” models (and possibly sharing some of them here, too).