Trace of change: How stigmergy maps social learning loops in Companion Modeling through participatory simulation

Abstract

This study explored integrating stigmergy in Companion Modeling (ComMod) to enhance social learning loops (SLL) in participatory natural resource management. Taking a case study from the Ferlo region of Senegal, the research focuses on how stigmergy – a concept derived from biology involving indirect coordination through environmental traces – stimulates and documents cognitive, normative, and relational changes among stakeholders. By leaving digital traces during the iterative development of an Agent-Based Model (ABM), stigmergy support participants in co-constructing the model representing local agro-sylvo-pastoral dynamics. The paper highlights the role of stigmergy in fostering trust, knowledge sharing, and collaboration among diverse stakeholders and research team in a ComMod process, helping to refine the collective strategies aimed at sustainable land management. This research showed that stigmergic imprints can be used as a tool for monitor how learning and model development evolve during iterative modeling workshops, contributing to more adaptive and resilient resource governance strategies.

Keywords

companion modeling, social learning loops, stigmergy, senegal, sylvopastoralism

Links

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BibTeX

@article{vendel2025trace,
  title = {Trace of change: How stigmergy maps social learning loops in Companion Modeling through participatory simulation},
  author = {Vendel, François and Zaitsev, Oleksandr and Bommel, Pierre and Touré, Ibra and Cesaro, Jean-Daniel and Diop, Penda and Fall Ba, Marieme and Mbaye, Tamsir and Delay, Etienne},
  year = {2025},
  month = {May},
  journal = {Journal of Environmental Management},
  volume = {383},
  articleno = {125292},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  issn = {0301-4797},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125292},
  url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030147972501268X}
}