DOI
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0187

Summary
The ecosystem service concept has emphasized the role of people within socio-ecological systems (SESs). In this paper, we review and discuss alternative ways of representing people, their behaviour and decision-making processes in SES models using an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach. We also explore how ABM can be empirically grounded using information from social survey. The capacity for ABM to be generalized beyond case studies represents a crucial next step in modelling SESs, although this comes with considerable intellectual challenges. We propose the notion of human functional types, as an analogy of plant functional types, to support the expansion (scaling) of ABM to larger areas. The expansion of scope also implies the need to represent institutional agents in SES models in order to account for alternative governance structures and policy feedbacks. Further development in the coupling of human-environment systems would contribute considerably to better application and use of the ecosystem service concept

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
In this paper the authors :
— explore how SES models can be empirically grounded using information from social surveys;
— outline alternative ways of representing human behaviour and decision-making in SES models; and
— discuss how human behavioural models might be generalized beyond their ‘empirically grounded space’ for application over large geographical areas.
It discuss the application of agent-based modelling (ABM) as the focus for discussion, findings and understanding of SESs.. The ABM approach is computational and involves the creation of virtual objects with autonomous behaviour (i.e. agents), to represent real-world actors and their interactions amongst each other and with their environment. While flexible in representing complex systems that include human and ecological processes [6], the ABM approach may also provide a one-to-one mapping between virtual and real-world entities that makes the approach appealing for calibration, validation, prediction, and the exploratory and explanative modelling of complex systems. At present, there are few agent-based models (ABMs) that explicitly incorporate macro-level formal institutions or governance bodies (e.g. government) as agents such that there is a hierarchical interaction across scales between individuals and institutions. There are many intellectual problems that need to be resolved in scaling out and scaling up ABM applications from landscapes to nations and beyond, but the use of typologies to simplify the modelled system is likely to be crucial.

Point of Strength
The article contributes to the opportunities of making a multi-level analysis of SES from local to global features. It is a bit technical, so guidance by the lecturer is needed. There are opportunities to link to studies in Political ecology, thus creating a more dense approach.