Code Meets Conservation

Researchers at the Department of Computational and Data Sciences at IISc and collaborators have developed a novel model that combines AI-powered agent-based models with ecological data to simulate and forecast elephant movement patterns. The study focused on the Periyar-Agasthyamali complex of the Western Ghats.

Understanding the dynamics of elephant space use is essential for creating strategies to reduce conflicts between humans and elephants. This is important both from the perspective of conservation as well as the livelihoods and well-being of marginalised communities that inhabit forest areas.

The study was carried out by PhD student Anjali Purathekandy and faculty member Deepak Subramani, in collaboration with Meera Oommen, Associate Director at the Dakshin Foundation and Martin Wikelski, Director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.

The agent-based modeling framework allows the incorporation of observational datasets and ecological understanding with a natural uncertainty quantification process to study emergent patterns. A meticulous mathematical modeling approach led to the development of movement and cognition models to overcome the constraints of limited specific data for creating spatially explicit agent-based models of solitary bull elephants in the Periyar-Agasthyamali complex. A questionnaire-based survey by Meera Anna Oommen during her doctoral thesis in the study region provided valuable information to inform modeling decisions. The sensors were transported from South Africa to Indonesia, and the dangerous fieldwork of geotagging elephants was performed by Martin Wikelski. The collected data on elephant movement was used to calibrate and adapt to the unique characteristics of Asian elephants within the Periyar-Agastyamali complex.

In addition to serving as a prototype model that lays the groundwork for adding layers of complexity to create a data-driven decision support tool for wildlife management, this study represents a groundbreaking effort in computational modeling to understand the dynamics of space use by Asian elephants.

REFERENCE:

Purathekandy A, Oommen MA, Wikelski M, Subramani DN, An agent-based model of elephant crop raid dynamics in the Periyar–Agasthyamalai complex, India, Ecological Modelling (2024).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2024.110843

GitHub repository: https://github.com/quest-lab-iisc/abm-elephant-project

LAB WEBSITE:
https://cds.iisc.ac.in/faculty/deepakns/