Abstract:
An agent based-model of mobility of pastoralists was developed and applied to
the semi-arid rangeland region extending from southern Ethiopia to northern
Kenya. This model was used to investigate temporal adaptation of pastoralists to
the spatial heterogeneity of their environment. This dissertation describes the
development, structure, and corroboration process of the simulation model,
Pastoral Livestock Movement Model (PLMMO). PLMMO is a spatially explicit,
individual-based pastoralists-animal foraging and movement model. It
simultaneously simulates the foraging and movement behavior of individual pastoralists and their livestock in a rangeland ecosystem.