Agent-Based Modeling of Collective Foraging and Movement in Bison Herds
Talk, SIAM New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania Section Conference 2025, State College, PA, USA
Bison are an important species in the habitats they occupy, providing services to the ecosystem through their collective grazing and movement, while having significant cultural importance for Indigenous food sovereignty. In the late 19th century, they were brought to the brink of extinction due to hunting but through significant conservation efforts, bison have been reintroduced to the American grasslands, and efforts have been made to help facilitate the services they provide to the ecosystem. It is unknown what foraging strategies bison use in a landscape and it isn’t clear what dictates changes in the bison’s behavioral states, such as grazing, resting, and moving. In this talk, I present a model inspired by the bison’s behavior that captures how the bison move through a landscape and their social interactions. This model is calibrated with GPS movement data and informed in collaboration with expert ecologists’ insights, allowing exploration of scenarios such as enclosure design and herd expansions. This work demonstrates how mathematical models of collective behavior can provide both theoretical insight and practical tools for conservation and ecosystem management.