Ecological Model Selection via Evolutionary Computation and Information Theory

  • Authors:
  • James P. Hoffmann;Christopher D. Ellingwood;Osei M. Bonsu;Daniel E. Bentil

  • Affiliations:
  • Botany, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405-0086;Botany, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405-0086;Mathematics & Statistics, University of Vermont, Burlington 05401-0086-3357;Mathematics & Statistics, University of Vermont, Burlington 05401-0086-3357

  • Venue:
  • Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines
  • Year:
  • 2004

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Abstract

This paper describes an evolutionary algorithm-based approach to model selection and demonstrates its effectiveness in using the information content of ecological data to choose the correct model structure. Experiments with a modified genetic algorithm are described that combine parsimony with a novel gene regulation mechanism. This combination creates evolvable switches that implement functional variable-length genomes in the GA that allow for simultaneous model selection and parameter fitting. In effect, the GA orchestrates a competition among a community of models. Parsimony is implemented via the Akaike Information Criterion, and gene regulation uses a modulo function to overload the gene values and create an evolvable binary switch. The approach is shown to successfully specify the correct model structure in experiments with a nested set of polynomial test models and complex biological simulation models, even when Gaussian noise is added to the data.