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Overview

FEARLUS Model 0-3 & 0-5 Land Managers

Land managers select the land uses of the land parcels they own using a decision algorithm that consists of four parts:

Contentment strategy

(yield >= contentment or habit threshold)		 This is the strategy to use when the yield of the land parcel has met or exceeded an individual land manager threshold. It is typically a habit strategy, in which they use the same land use as the previous year.

Imitative strategy

(yield < contentment
AND randomly select imitative option)

 If the yield is below the contentment threshold, then each land manager has their own probability parameter that is used to choose either an imitative or a non-imitative strategy. Imitative strategies use only information available from a land manager's social neighbourhood. An example of an imitative strategy is to select a land use at random weighted by the number of times it appears in the social neighbourhood.

Non-imitative or innovative strategy

(yield < contentment
AND imitative option not selected)

 A non-imitative strategy is used when the yield is below the contentment threshold, and an imitative strategy was not selected. Non-imitative strategies may be referred to as innovative, because they select among all available land uses, rather than only those appearing in the social neighbourhood, and can therefore (re-)introduce land uses into environments that no longer have them. An example of an innovative strategy is to select the land use that best matches the land parcel physical characteristics bitstring.

Initial strategy

 A special strategy is reserved for selecting a land use during the initialisation schedule. This is typically the random strategy.