Unlike microscopic physics models, agent-based artificial life models are commonly constructed without a strict energy conservation rule. We report on the effects of incorporating energy conservation in our predator-prey based agent model. We discuss the role of microscopic model parameters that give rise to macroscopic emergent effects that can be measured. Arguably non-conserving models like ours can be described as mesoscopic. We show that the effects of an energy conservation law for reproducing animats are no different from having a breeding success regulation rule in our model.
Keywords: animats; artificial life; agents; simulation, energy conservation of energy.
Full Document Text: PDF version.
Citation Information: To Appear in Proc. 2008 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ICAI'08), Las Vegas, USA, 14-17 July 2008.