Evoland Glossary

							EvoLand Glossary                                            Last Updated: September 16, 2012

Actor is an entity (individual or group) who makes decisions about the management of particular
landscape units based on balancing a set of objectives reflecting their particular interests,
motivating mandates, and the policy sets in force on the parcels they manage. Each IDU has one
actor.

Actor class all the actors that have a particular characterization, e.g., high value agriculture, low
income and education rural residential, urban high income and high education homeowner. An
Actor class has an associate value distribution reflecting the within-class variability of their
values.

Actor policy is applied by an actor (See Scheduled polity)

Actor values are where an actor is located in the distribution of ecocentric and anthropocentric
values.

Adaptation

Alternative futures are derived from multiple output sets that can be evaluated statistically.

ALPS (autonomous landscape processes) modules that code landscape changes caused by the
temporal extension of biological and physical processes which actor behavior does not model.
Examples are aging of a forest, river migration, population allocation and urban growth boundary
expansion.

Anthropocentric values are supportive of economic processes and benefits to humans.

Biocomplexity is the properties emerging from the interplay of behavioral, biological, chemical,
physical, and social interactions that affect, sustain, or are modified by living organisms,
including people. “The term “biocomplexity is used to describe the complex structures,
interactions, adaptive capabilities and (frequently nonlinear) dynamics of a diverse set of
biological and ecological systems, often operating at multiple spatial and temporal scales” (JB
9/20/2004).

Capacity for adaptation

Capacity for innovation

Compensatory factors define the utility of the policy at addressing specific issues, which can be
“traded off” against other attributes and objectives in decisionmaking. (See noncompensatory)

Connectedness

Conserv=1 are lands that are defined in a policy as having a conservation purpose.

Cultural metaprocess is the fundamental mechanism for actor interactions and behavioral
change. Actors interact with neighbors, people of like mindedness, and in social networks.

Distribution refers to a frequency distribution which has some variable on the x-axis, like
ecocentric, and numbers of cases on the y-axis, like ITUs. (See value distribution)
Economic is a metagoal that influences actor decision makng.

Ecocentric values are supportive of ecological processes. (See anthropocentric)

Emergent properties are outcomes from complex systems, which in EvoLand is the interaction
between policy and pattern.

Evaluative models compute scarcity metrics at both the landscape scale and also at finer local
scales. Evaluative models include fish (Willamette fish model), riparian vegetation (=?
floodplain model), habitat (WET_Hab), invertebrates (Willamette Valley), economics (8 land
price functions—urban residential low, medium, and high density; commercial; rural residential,
agriculture, forest). Evaluative models include economic, ecosystem health, habitat score, small
streams, flood plain slices, agricultural target, forestry target, riparian conservation, industrial
target, and commercial target

EvoLand trinity is policies intentions (effectiveness), landscape patterns (metrics of production),
and actor values (values and behaviors). (See diagram)

Genetic algorithms chromosomes are policies. Chromosomes have genes, which are attributes
of policies. Genetic policies have fitness, crossover, mutation.

Goals included in EvoLand are

IDU (Integrated Decision Unit) The fundamental unit of spatial representation in EvoLand. It
consists of a polygon coverage and associated attributes. It is essentially a tax lot that may be
divided into smaller units depending on riparian, flood plain, vegetation, UGB, and active
channel boundaries. 15,000 IDUs in the McKenzie study area. One actor makes a decision for an
IDU.

Invariant region is one exhibiting a very small number of land use/land cover types across
multiple trajectories.

ITU (Integrated Terrain Unit) is the intersection of a census block group and a precinct.

Noncompensatory attributes or constraints: those required to be satisfied before the policy can
be considered (See compensatory)

Landscape change occurs from human decision making in response to policies and autonomous
landscape processes (see ALPS).

Landscape evaluator (see evaluative models)

Landscape unit (See IDU)

Landscape likelihood is a frequency analysis of both biophysical and cultural characteristics of a
large set of modeled landscapes.

Landscape scarcity is the difference between the required or desired features of a landscape and
the availability of those features. Economics offers conceptions of relative scarcity, where a good
is scarce in relation to other goods, implying substitutability. Ecology offers conceptions of
absolute scarcity, where an elementary need can either be met, or not, with no ability to substitute
for elementary needs. In this project, scarcity is the deficiency of a defined landscape metric
relative to some reference level. This project uses riparian vegetation and fish as measures of
ecological scarcity and property value and land use types as measures of economic scarcity.

Landscape trajectory is a change in landforms and land cover emerging from interactions
among biophysical and human cultural processes over space and time. A trajectory is evident
through observable change of patterns at discrete grain, extent, frequency and duration.

Landscape Scarcity is the difference between the required or desired features of a landscape and
the availability of those features. Economics offers conceptions of relative scarcity, where a good
is scarce in relation to other goods, implying substitutability. Ecology offers conceptions of
absolute scarcity, where an elementary need can either be met, or not, with no ability to substitute
for elementary needs. In this project, scarcity is the deficiency of a defined landscape metric
relative to some reference level. This project uses riparian vegetation and fish as measures of
ecological scarcity and property value and land use types as measures of economic scarcity.

Landscape Variability is the tendency of a particular location in a landscape to change its land
use or land cover over time as modeling of it exhibits multiple, possible trajectories. A variant
region is one exhibiting many land use/land cover types across multiple trajectories. An invariant
region is one exhibiting few land use/land cover types across multiple trajectories. Thresholds for
classification of variance and invariance are user defined.

Landscapes are fundamentally represented as spatially distributed attribute sets contained within
a polygon coverage.

LULC (land use/land cover) Three levels of articulation [A most general (n=8) to C most specific
(n=51)] are used in EvoLand.

LUCC land use and land cover change.

Metagoals are big picture external drivers for EvoLand. They are weights and targets for
economics, ecosystem health, habitat score, small streams, flood plain slices, and agricultural,
forestry, riparian conservation, industrial, and commercial land uses.

Policies provide the fundamental framework guiding and constraining land use and land
management decisionmaking. Policies capture rules, regulations, and incentives promulgated by
public agencies in response to social demands for ecological and social goods, as well as factors
used by private landowners/land managers to make land and water use decisions. They contain
site constraints and single or multiple outcomes. (See policy summary.) reflecting change in
attributes associated with the underlying IDU.

Policy are independent entities consisting of two attributes—predicate and outcome. Predicates
include where policies can be applied and possible actions that result from that policy. The
outcome is applied when an actor uses the policy. All outcomes are probabilistic. Policies are
mandatory or not. A policy does not result in an outcome until (See policies)

Policy dates are when the policy begins and ends. When dates are not specified, the policy is
always available for actors to choose.

Policy exclusivity is whether the policy can operation in association with other policies or not.
Policy fitness: the fitness of a policy in a policy set with respect to a landscape metric is a
measure of its effectiveness at addressing scarcity in that metric. (See Policy Set Fitness) Policy
fitness is the ability of a policy to deal with the scarcity it is designed to handle.

Policy mandatoriness is whether the policy required actors to adopt it or not.

Policy metaprocess is the fundamental mechanism for creating, modifying and removing policies
available to actors. The current implementation uses genetic operators to create and evolve new
policies in response to global and local scarcity measures.

Policy outcomes are what the site becomes after the policy is applied. These attributes include
LULC,

Policy persistence is the time period that the policy is in effect.

Policy set fitness: the success of a policy set with respect to a landscape metric is a measure of its
effectiveness at addressing scarcity in that metric. (See Policy Fitness) Policies have dimensions
of fitness, e.g.., economic, ecological, altruism, self-interests values

Policy site attributes are LULC classes, distances to various features, proximity to various
features, and that specify where a policy applies (See policy outcomes).

Program sets exogenous changes for a run of EvoLand. Current programs include conservation,
agriculture and forestry. Residential and commercial programs are planned.

Re-development (see UGB Expansion Autonomous Process) is residential densification and the
shift of LULC_A 4 to LULC_A 10.

Resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb disturbance without losing its
characteristic structure and functions (Holling 1973).

Resiliece is the property of a system, the essence of which is the capacity to recover rapidly and
completely to a former characteristic stat following disturbance

can be biological, economic, social, cultural (consistent with Walker et al. 2002 and Adger et al.
2005)

Riparian conservation lands have been designated by policies to restore riparian function.

Riparian vulnerability is operationalized by tabulating the variance of policy application to
riparian cells produced in each run of the EvoLand simulation.

Sandbox is where policies are tested on the landscape to see to what degree the policy can be
expected to address metagoal scarcities.

Scarcity is the major driver of landscape change. Scarcity is the difference between a target
level and what the evaluative models compute. A resource to be considered scarce must be of
limited availability and be of productive use. It’s both of these conditions that make it scarce.
Even though an item is quite limited (in physical sense), it will not be a scarce resource, if it has
few if any uses. In other words, scarcity, in economic terms, only occurs if there is a need or want
for a resource, not just because there is a small amount of it. Ref Liebeg’s law of the minimum.
We do not cover substitutability. 9/13/05 calculated at the study area level. This limits the
analysis in terms of Dave’s definition of vulnerability as a function of scarcity. Distinguish
absolute versus relative scarcity, ecological versus ecological scarcity, species versus community
level analysis.

Stan (05/11/2006) Landscape scarcity is the difference between the required or desired features of
a landscape and the availability of those features. In this project, scarcity is the deficiency of a
defined landscape metric relative to some reference level. This project uses riparian vegetation
and fish as measures of ecological scarcity and property value and land use types as measures of
economic scarcity.

Scheduled policy gets applied at a specific point in a run. Removing the UGB is an example.
(See Actor policy)

Scenario identifies objectives, policies, programs that are to be used in an EvoLand run.

Study area is the specific location to which EvoLand is applied. Four study areas were the
focus—McKenzie, Tualatin, Santiam, Long Tom.

Suitability is used to determine the relative ranking of IDUs for transition to rural residential,
residential, commercial, industrial, and residential/commercial land uses.

Targets are used to determine scarcity. All scarcities are relative to the scale +3.0 to -3.0, where
+ is absence of scarcity and – is existence of scarcity (see Weighs).

UGB (Urban Growth Boundary) An Oregon land-use planning concept intended to keep
urbanization constrained around existing cities.

UGB Expansion Autonomous Process (see UGB model.doc)

Validation (from the Latin validus meaning strong or powerful) Validation means building the
right thing so one gets results that conform to evidence, law, logic, the facts, etc. Validation
determines how well model outcomes represent actual system behavior.

Value distribution is a frequency histogram of the range on ecocentric and anthropocentric
values for an actor class.

Variant/invariant is changes in LULC by IDU over a 50-year run.

Variant region is one exhibiting many land use/land cover types across multiple trajectories.

Verification (from the Latin veritas meaning truth) Verification means building a thing right so
that one gets true results. Verification determines whether the appropriate system qualities are
being modeled.

Vulnerability (see landscape vulnerability, riparian vulnerability <omit?>) is those places
where something valuable to humans is scarce. In EvoLand evaluative models determine
scarcity. The evaluative models are economic score, ecosystem health, habitat score, small
streams score, flood plain slices score, closeness to agricultural target, closeness to forestry target,
amount of riparian conservation, closeness to industrial target, and closeness to commercial
target. Vulnerability is the propensity for landscape change in biophysical characteristics
resulting from actor policy choices in response to scarcity (modified from poster version 4).
9/13/05 Vulnerability is the likelihood of change in LULC.

Weights reflect how much emphasis an altruistic actor will give to the selection of goals in
adapting to scarcity (see Targets).