A Genetic Algorithm Solver for Pest Management Control in Island Systems

Optimising the management of national parks and reserves is a truly multidisciplinary issue. This problem requires considerable knowledge of the characteristics of the ecosystems and species and their interactions. This then can be translated into a highly complex knapsack problem. Essentially, within a limited budget, a manager needs to select the conservation actions according to expected payoffs (in terms of protecting or restoring desired species) versus cost (the amount of resources/money) required for the actions. This paper presents a formulation and optimisation techniques to solve the problem. From this method, decision-support software is being developed, tailored to meet the needs of pest control on islands, in close cooperation with conservation managers. The solver uses a Genetic Algorithm (GA), and incorporates a model of the conservation problem (a simplified model of the ecosystem). The results indicate the solver is able to derive strategies that reduce the number of...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2015
• Where: ACAL
• Authors: Jana Brotankova, Marcus Randall, Andrew Lewis, Bob Pressey, Amelia Wenger
• Keywords: ACAL 2015, Artificial Intelligence