A Process Calculus for Spatially-explicit Ecological Models

We propose PALPS, a Process Algebra with Locations for Population Systems. PALPS allows us to produce spatially-explicit, individual-based models and to reason about their behavior. Our calculus has two levels: at the first level we may define the behavior of an individual of a population while, at the second level, we may specify a system as the collection of individuals of various species located in space, moving through their life cycle while changing their location, if they so wish, and interacting with each other in various ways such as preying on each other. Furthermore, we propose a probabilistic temporal logic for reasoning about the behavior of PALPS processes. We illustrate our framework via models of dispersal in metapopulations.Comment: In Proceedings MeCBIC 2012, arXiv:1211.347

Simulation and Verification in a Process Calculus for Spatially-Explicit Ecological Models

We propose PALPS, a Process Algebra with Locations for Population Systems. PALPS allows us to produce spatially-explicit individual-based ecological models and to reason about their behavior. PALPS has two abstraction levels: At the first level, we may define the behavior of an individual of a population and, at the second level, we may specify a system as the collection of individuals of various species located in space. In PALPS, the individuals move through their life cycle while changing their location and interact with each other in various ways such as predation, infection or mating. Furthermore, we propose a translation of a subset of PALPS into the probabilistic model checker PRISM. We illustrate our framework via models of dispersal in metapopulations and by applying PRISM on PALPS models for verifying temporal logic properties and conducting reachability and steady-state analysis

Ecological Modelling with the Calculus of Wrapped Compartments

The Calculus of Wrapped Compartments is a framework based on stochastic multiset rewriting in a compartmentalised setting originally developed for the modelling and analysis of biological interactions. In this paper, we propose to use this calculus for the description of ecological systems and we provide the modelling guidelines to encode within the calculus some of the main interactions leading ecosystems evolution. As a case study, we model the distribution of height of Croton wagneri, a shrub constituting the endemic predominant species of the dry ecosystem in southern Ecuador. In particular, we consider the plant at different altitude gradients (i.e. at different temperature conditions), to study how it adapts under the effects of global climate change.Comment: A preliminary version of this paper has been presented in CMC13 (LNCS 7762, pp 358-377, 2013