An Agent-Based Model of Private Woodland Owner Management Behavior Using Social Interactions, Information Flow, and Peer-To-Peer Networks.

ABSTRACT: Privately owned woodlands are an important source of timber and ecosystem services in North America and worldwide. Impacts of management on these ecosystems and timber supply from these woodlands are difficult to estimate because complex behavioral theory informs the owner's management decisions. The decision-making environment consists of exogenous market factors, internal cognitive processes, and social interactions with fellow landowners, foresters, and other rural community members. This study seeks to understand how social interactions, information flow, and peer-to-peer networks influence timber harvesting behavior using an agent-based model. This theoretical model includes forested polygons in various states of 'harvest readiness' and three types of agents: forest landowners, forest

SUBMITTER: Huff ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4642987 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature