Using evolutionary computational techniques in environmental modelling

Evolutionary Computation (EC) is a field of computer science that borrows concepts such as natural selection and the genotype-phenotype distinction from biology in order to solve a wide range of complex problems, such as robot controller design, job-shop schedule optimization, pattern recognition, electronic circuit design and many more. In addition, EC techniques in combination with individual-based modelling can be applied in their domain of origin, biology, to investigate the emergence and evolution of natural phenomena. This paper describes the use of EC as both (a) an empirical supplement to analytical approaches to mathematically tractable biological problems, and (b) a vital tool for analyzing highly complex systems of interacting species in heterogeneous environments. Three EC applications, two tractable and one complex, are used to illustrate these points. In general, this work introduces environmental modellers to a cutting-edge computer-science technique that can be of considerable utility, especially in a modern world in which accelerated rates of large-scale environmental change heighten the need for evolutionary considerations in analyses of relatively short time-scale phenomena. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.