There are a few places still available for the course "INTRODUCTION TO INDIVIDUAL BASED MODELS IN  ECOLOGY USING NETLOGO", May 26-30, 2014. Deadline for registration with reduced fee: February 28.

Instructors: Dr. Jürgen Groeneveld (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Germany) and Dr. Alexander Singer   (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Germany).

In this course, the principles of individual based modelling will be presented. In Ecology many patterns at the population or community level emerge from processes, variability and interactions at the individual scale. Therefore it is increasingly acknowledged that the basic entities in many ecological models should be individuals. This is the aim of individual based modelling (or agent based models).

Instructors will introduce participants to NetLogo, a development environment and a domain specific computer language for individual based modelling. In  lectures, instructors will explain techniques to develop, analyse, test and document individual based simulation models. Hands on session will familiarise  participants with the concepts: In small groups they will develop, implement and analyse an individual based model to answer an ecological question. Questions  will be suggested by the instructors and will comprise applied (e.g. sustainable forestry) and theoretical topics. Every group will present their project and  their experiences at the end of the course in a short presentation. After the course the participants will be able to implement and analyse simple models in  NetLogo.

More info:  http://www.transmittingscience.org/courses/eco/system-bio-ecology/ or  writing to [email protected]

Organized by: Transmitting Science, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the Centre de Restauració i Interpretació Paleontologica.

Site: Els Hostalets de Pierola, Barcelona, Spain.