Case-based Simulation of Ecological and Biological Systems

Simulation means experimenting with a model aimed at analysing the behaviour of a dynamic system. The causal relationships of ecological and biological systems are often not completely known, which hampers the application of quantitative and even qualitative deductive simulation methodologies. If empirical studies that describe the system's behaviour are available, case-based methods can be used to develop a behaviour model from a set of data, i.e. prototypical cases. In contrast to purely inductive methods, case-based approaches directly apply cases to a given situation. Thereby, the specificity of cases is preserved for simulation. Two approaches and their applications illustrate principles, perspectives, and problems of case-based simulation.