Key words: agent-based models, spatial models, plant mating, oaks, pollution, reproduction

“On Agent-Based Models of Sex, Plants and Sustainability”

This thesis examines various real-world phenomena by means of models and simulations. Each of these phenomena is modeled by an agent-based approach, using different model properties. The modeling approaches differ per chapter, varying from static to discrete-time and continuous-time models and from non-spatial to discrete-space and continuous-space ones. We examine the advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction also with respect to resilience of the populations; we examine diversity of sex systems in annual plants and how they relate to each other; we examine the female choice mechanism in oak trees, where female trees choose the unlikely father for their offspring; and we explore how individual pollution policies of different countries affect the environment for all.