What is the SOSIEL Harvest extension (SHE)?

The SOSIEL (pronounced ˈsōSHəl and stands for Self-Organizing Social & Inductive Evolutionary Learning) Harvest extension (SHE) implements boundedly-rational decision-making by one or more agents. Each SOSIEL agent makes decisions using a cognitive architecture that consists of nine cognitive processes that enable each agent to interact with other agents, learn from its own experience and that of others, and make decisions about taking, and then take, (potentially collective) actions. Together, LANDIS-II and SHE have the potential to simulate adaptive management in co-evolving coupled human and forest landscapes.

Features

• Each agent can engage in anticipatory learning, goal prioritizing, counterfactual thinking, innovating, social learning, goal selecting, satisficing, signaling, and (potentially collective) action-taking.
• Four alternative cognitive levels, with each level composed of a different combination of cognitive processes and representing an alternative approach to modeling agent behavior.
• Three alternative modes: Mode 1 is primarily intended for simulating site-scale forest management by mobile agents, Mode 2 is intended for simulating stand- to landscape-scale forest management, and Mode 3 simulates agents that do not directly interact with the forest landscape.

Release Notes

• Latest official release: Version 2.0 — July 2025
• SHE User Guide.

Requirements

To use SHE, you need:

• The LANDIS-II model v8.0 installed on your computer.
• Extension Installer
• Example files (see below)

Download and Install the Extension

The latest version can be downloaded here. (Look for the download icon in the upper right corner.) Launch the installer.

Example Files

Example files can be downloaded from GitHub.

Citation

When using SHE in Mode 1 or 3:

• Cite the manuscript describing SHE’s Mode 1 and 3: Sotnik, G., Kovalchuk, K., Pizhenko, I., Thom, D., Kruhlov, I., Chaskovskyy, O., Nielsen-Pincus, M., & Scheller, R. M. (in preparation) A new agent-based model simulates human-forest-wildlife co-evolution in the Ukrainian Carpathians.
• Cite the manuscript describing the SOSIEL algorithm: Sotnik, G. (2018). The SOSIEL Platform: Knowledge-based, cognitive, and multi-agent. Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, 26, 103-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bica.2018.09.001

When using SHE in Mode 2:

• Cite the manuscript describing SHE’s Mode 2: Sotnik, G., Cassell, B. A., Duveneck, M. J., Scheller, R. M. (2021) A new agent-based model provides insight into deep uncertainty faced in simulated forest management. Landscape Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01324-5
• Cite the manuscript describing the Biomass Harvest extension: Gustafson, E. J., Shifley, S. R., Mladenoff, D. J., Nimerfro, K. K., & He, H. S. (2000). Spatial simulation of forest succession and timber harvesting using LANDIS. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 30(1), 32–43. https://doi.org/10.1139/x99-188
• Cite the manuscript describing the SOSIEL algorithm: Sotnik, G. (2018). The SOSIEL Platform: Knowledge-based, cognitive, and multi-agent. Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, 26, 103-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bica.2018.09.001

Support

If you have a question, contact Garry Sotnik at contact@sosiel.org. You can also ask for help in the LANDIS-II users group.

If you come across any issue or suspected bug when using SHE, contact Garry Sotnik at contact@sosiel.org or post about it in the issue section of the GitHub repository.

Design team

• Mode 1: Garry Sotnik
• Mode 2: Garry Sotnik, Brooke A. Cassell, & Robert M. Scheller
• Mode 3: Garry Sotnik

Development team

• Mode 1: Ivan Pizhenko, Vadim Moskvin, Garry Sotnik, & Eugene Lobach
• Mode 2: Vadim Moskvin, Garry Sotnik, & Eugene Lobach
• Mode 3: Ivan Pizhenko & Garry Sotnik