Biocomplexity Resources

Coupled Natural and Human Systems

Online resources in this list focus on the complex interactions among human and natural systems at diverse spatial, temporal, and organizational scales. Some topics include urban wetlands, land use, natural hazards, and industrial processes.

  • CIPEC Biocomplexity Project Overview. This biocomplexity project concentrates on using several types of mathematical modeling to inventory and predict land use / land cover patterns. Some of the modeling approaches that will be analyzed are econometric models, systems dynamics models, cellular automata models, and theoretical agent-based models. The goal of this research is to compare the strengths, weaknesses, and unique advantages of several modeling approaches. (more info)
  • Centre for Research on Simulation in the Social Sciences. This center is dedicated to using computer models for monitoring and predicting distribution of sociological conditions. This site contains links to associated periodicals, textbooks, and web site resources. Other services of this site include reports on current research projects conducted by CRESS personnel and a list of modeling software available. (more info)
  • Cormas - Natural Resource and Multi-Agent Simulations. Cormas is a programming environment dedicated to the creation of multi-agent systems as it applies to natural resources management. This site is devoted to the applied modeling of relationships between societies and their environment. These programs concentrate on developing simulation models that identify relationships between individuals and groups that jointly use common resources. ( This site may be offline. )
  • Earth Observatory. Customizable maps of atmospheric, oceanic, climatic, land use and biologic data plotted on world maps and animations. (more info)
  • GLOBIO: Modelling Human Impacts on the Biosphere . The Global Methodology for Modelling Human Impacts on the Biosphere (GLOBIO) relates thousands of scientific studies on environmental impacts to risk on ecosystems by the use of different buffer zones from infrastructure. By linking risk of impact to human expansions in different ecosystems and regions with satellite imagery, available resources and infrastructure, overviews of the past, the current and the possible future with continued growth in infrastructure can be derived. Maps of impacts are available for Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, Polar regions, and West Asia. Users may search the site by region. Posters are available from the regional pages. Press releases and a newsletter are also offered. (more info)
  • Lake Ontario BioComplexity Study. This project concentrates on the distinct and enclosed freshwater bays and lake-level lagoons along the New York coast of Lake Ontario including the associated watersheds, wetlands, and human factors. The goals of this research are to develop watershed hydrologic simulation capability, model land use and land cover, and develop a hydrodynamic simulator to model water exchange between Lake Ontario and the bay ecosystems. (more info)
  • National Park Service - Nature Net. Nature Net encompasses five web sites that cover air quality, biology, geology, social science and water resources within the National Park Service. Each category includes general information, descriptions of programs and policies, scientific information, publications, educational resources and photographs. (more info)
  • Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The Natural Hazards Center carries out its mission in four principal areas: information dissemination, an annual workshop, research, and library services. The center's prime goal is to increase communication among hazard/disaster researchers and those individuals, agencies, and organizations that are actively working to reduce disaster damage and suffering. (more info)
  • Nebraska Earth Science Education Network. The goal of the Nebraska Earth Science Education Network is to improve linkages between K-12 educators and earth science resources. This website contains many useful features for students and educators alike. A large array of teaching material can be found under the lessons link. Lesson plans, activities, projects and instructor guides are organized by subject matter and grade level. There are also links to data sets which are grouped by topic. Several current research projects are also linked, such as a data visualization tool for plotting data directly from the internet. This resource is part of the Biocomplexity collection. http://serc.carleton.edu/biocomplexity/ ( This site may be offline. )
  • Pacific Northwest Ecosystem Research Consortium. Goals of this project include understanding the ecological consequences of societal decisions related to changes in human populations and ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. The website includes information on the personnel and projects of this research group. There is also access to digital maps and supporting material used in developing future scenarios for the Willamette River Basin. (more info)
  • Research Groups using Agent-Based Modeling for Land Use / Land Cover Change. This site is summary of research groups and projects that are modeling land-use or land cover change using agent-based modeling approaches. More than 15 different listings appear on this site and several of these listings have information for more than one project. (more info)
  • Spatial Land Use Change and Ecological Effects at the Rural-Urban Interface: Project SLUCE 2. Project SLUCE seeks to understand the individual decision-making that drives land use decisions and to formulate and test alternative policies that could reduce environmental costs. The project is focusing on developing agent-based models of land use and cover change processes. This website allows the user to search for investigators, research projects, and even download data and software to allow individual applications of SLUCE modeling. (more info)
  • Sustaining Multiple Functions for Urban Wetlands. This website provides a summary of the Urban Wetlands research group at Oregon State University. This project will establish partnerships among public agencies, educators, and interdisciplinary teams of scientists from three regions of the US to summarize the state of our knowledge of wetlands in the urban landscape, and propose directions for future research. (more info)
  • The US Long Term Ecological Research Network. This is a collaborative effort involving more than 1100 scientists and students investigating ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. The studies include topics such as hydrology, metabolic rate of ecosystems, global change research, and climate data. (more info)
  • The Village Project. This project seeks to understand the long-term interaction of humans, their culture(s) and their environment in southwestern Colorado, USA, from A.D. 600-1300. The research employs agent-based simulation to examine various models for how farmers locate themselves and use resources on this landscape. Agent-based models allow researchers from many disciplines to study a system that is characterized by interaction between the landscape and by the farmers as they sought to make a living in this marginal farming area. This website provides a useful example of agent-based modeling and includes a project abstract, maps, a bibliography, and a description of agent-based modeling. This resource is part of the Biocomplexity collection. http://serc.carleton.edu/biocomplexity/ ( This site may be offline. )