[PDF] Scales Hierarchies And Emergent Properties In Ecological Models eBook

Author : Franz Hölker
Publisher : Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 12,74 MB
Release : 2002
Category : Biological models
ISBN : 9783631389249

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Mathematical and computational approaches provide powerful tools in the study of problems in population biology and ecosystem science. Recent analytical advances, coupled with the enhanced potential of high-speed computation, have opened up new sights and presented new challenges especially in those fields of ecological theory which met methodological restrictions in the past: For many years scales and hierarchies have been considered an important research topic in ecology. Nevertheless, the prevailing methodological constraints frequently reduced the analysis to conceptual considerations. Conceptual structuring remains to be the primary practical contribution of scale and hierarchy to the development of ecological theory. In this volume we attempt to demonstrate to what extent this is currently changing. The application of models which are capable to represent precisely the relations of different scales and integration levels have made a remarkable progress and let us observe how a wide range of emergent properties can be analysed in the output of ecological models. By linking empirical findings and similar model specifications with the implementation of self-organisation processes on the level of model components, the analytical and synthetic power of modelling can be extended to a new, synergistic level. The contributions of this volume provide background, examples and current results. The volume starts with concept articles, then presents an example of artificial networks, provides papers concerning genetic aspects and ends with articles dealing with botanical features.

Author : T. F. H. Allen
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 424 pages
File Size : 23,31 MB
Release : 2017-11-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 022648971X

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Although complexity surrounds us, its inherent uncertainty, ambiguity, and contradiction can at first make complex systems appear inscrutable. Ecosystems, for instance, are nonlinear, self-organizing, seemingly chaotic structures in which individuals interact both with each other and with the myriad biotic and abiotic components of their surroundings across geographies as well as spatial and temporal scales. In the face of such complexity, ecologists have long sought tools to streamline and aggregate information. Among them, in the 1980s, T. F. H. Allen and Thomas B. Starr implemented a burgeoning concept from business administration: hierarchy theory. Cutting-edge when Hierarchy was first published, their approach to unraveling complexity is now integrated into mainstream ecological thought. This thoroughly revised and expanded second edition of Hierarchy reflects the assimilation of hierarchy theory into ecological research, its successful application to the understanding of complex systems, and the many developments in thought since. Because hierarchies and levels are habitual parts of human thinking, hierarchy theory has proven to be the most intuitive and tractable vehicle for addressing complexity. By allowing researchers to look explicitly at only the entities and interconnections that are relevant to a specific research question, hierarchically informed data analysis has enabled a revolution in ecological understanding. With this new edition of Hierarchy, that revolution continues.

Author : Aaron Ellison
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 41,99 MB
Release : 2021-08-03
Category : Science
ISBN : 0691222789

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A groundbreaking approach to scale and scaling in ecological theory and practice Scale is one of the most important concepts in ecology, yet researchers often find it difficult to find ecological systems that lend themselves to its study. Scaling in Ecology with a Model System synthesizes nearly three decades of research on the ecology of Sarracenia purpurea—the northern pitcher plant—showing how this carnivorous plant and its associated food web of microbes and macrobes can inform the challenging question of scaling in ecology. Drawing on a wealth of findings from their pioneering lab and field experiments, Aaron Ellison and Nicholas Gotelli reveal how the Sarracenia microecosystem has emerged as a model system for experimental ecology. Ellison and Gotelli examine Sarracenia at a hierarchy of spatial scales—individual pitchers within plants, plants within bogs, and bogs within landscapes—and demonstrate how pitcher plants can serve as replicate miniature ecosystems that can be studied in wetlands throughout the United States and Canada. They show how research on the Sarracenia microecosystem proceeds much more rapidly than studies of larger, more slowly changing ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, lakes, or streams, which are more difficult to replicate and experimentally manipulate. Scaling in Ecology with a Model System offers new insights into ecophysiology and stoichiometry, demography, extinction risk and species distribution models, food webs and trophic dynamics, and tipping points and regime shifts.

Author : David Lawrence Peterson
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 638 pages
File Size : 38,86 MB
Release : 1998
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780231105033

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Ecological Scale provides invaluable perspectives on the application of the concepts of measurement, analysis, and inference in both theoretical and applied ecology, ultimately providing a broad-based understanding for resource managers and other ecological professionals.

Author :
Publisher : Newnes
Page : 595 pages
File Size : 28,13 MB
Release : 2012-12-31
Category : Science
ISBN : 0444594051

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In the application of statistics to ecological inference problems, hierarchical models combine explicit models of ecological system structure or dynamics with models of how ecological systems are observed. The principles of hierarchical modeling are applied in this book to a wide range of problems ranging from the molecular level, through populations, ecosystems, landscapes, networks, through to the global ecosphere. Provides an excellent introduction to modelling Collects together in one source a wide range of modelling techniques Covers a wide range of topics, from the molecular level to the global ecosphere

Author : Harry Schulz
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 19,55 MB
Release : 2012-01-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 9533078936

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The knowledge of the characteristics of the fluids and their ability to transport substances and physical properties is relevant for us. However, the quantification of the movements of fluids is a complex task, and when considering natural flows, occurring in large scales (rivers, lakes, oceans), this complexity is evidenced. This book presents conclusions about different aspects of flows in natural water bodies, such as the evolution of plumes, the transport of sediments, air-water mixtures, among others. It contains thirteen chapters, organized in four sections: Tidal and Wave Dynamics: Rivers, Lakes and Reservoirs, Tidal and Wave Dynamics: Seas and Oceans, Tidal and Wave Dynamics: Estuaries and Bays, and Multiphase Phenomena: Air-Water Flows and Sediments. The chapters present conceptual arguments, experimental and numerical results, showing practical applications of the methods and tools of Hydrodynamics.

Author : Boris Schröder
Publisher : Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften
Page : 140 pages
File Size : 46,74 MB
Release : 2007
Category : Science
ISBN :

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The scale dependence of ecological processes and patterns, as well as their analysis is a long-standing theme in ecology. The problem of scaling has three components: (i) direct measurements are commonly limited to small scales in time and space, (ii) the most pressing problems have to be addressed at comparatively large scales, but (iii) direct upscaling fails when local processes differ from those relevant at larger scales. The contributions collected in this volume evolved from the workshop 'Multiple Scales in Ecology', held in March 2005 at Seddinger See near Potsdam in Germany. The book is organized along four major themes: scale-dependent pattern formation, scale identification, multiscale analysis, and scaling in applications.

Author :
Publisher :
Page : pages
File Size : 14,26 MB
Release : 1977
Category :
ISBN :

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The development of large-scale ecological models depends implicitly on a concept known as hierarchy theory which views biological systems in a series of hierarchical levels (i.e., organism, population, trophic level, ecosystem). The theory states that an explanation of a biological phenomenon is provided when it is shown to be the consequence of the activities of the system's components, which are themselves systems in the next lower level of the hierarchy. Thus, the behavior of a population is explained by the behavior of the organisms in the population. The initial step in any modeling project is, therefore, to identify the system components and the interactions between them. A series of examples of transmutations in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are presented to show how and why changes occur. The types of changes are summarized and possible implications of transmutation for hierarchy theory, for the modeler, and for the ecological theoretician are discussed.

Author : Felix Muller
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 604 pages
File Size : 24,61 MB
Release : 2000-02-10
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9781566702539

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As part of the Environmental and Ecological Modeling Handbooks series, the Handbook of Ecosystem Theories and Management provides a comprehensive overview of ecosystem theory and the tools - ecological engineering, ecological modeling, ecotoxicology and ecological economics -to manage these systems. The book is laid out to provide a summary or survey of each topic, using many tables and figures. Concepts, definitions, important findings, basic hypotheses, important correlations between theories and observation with illustrative graphs are included. The comprehensive treatment of ecosystem theory and application of theoretical tools, and the integration of classical theory and real world examples, sets this book apart. It covers newly emerging topical areas as well as nontraditional topical areas (i.e. chaos) that will interest professionals trained in previous decades and enlighten those now entering into formal training. The general approach taken by the authors makes this an essential reference and handbook for professionals and students.

Author : Franck Varenne
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 34,97 MB
Release : 2018-09-03
Category : History
ISBN : 1351660934

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This book analyses the impact computerization has had on contemporary science and explains the origins, technical nature and epistemological consequences of the current decisive interplay between technology and science: an intertwining of formalism, computation, data acquisition, data and visualization and how these factors have led to the spread of simulation models since the 1950s. Using historical, comparative and interpretative case studies from a range of disciplines, with a particular emphasis on the case of plant studies, the author shows how and why computers, data treatment devices and programming languages have occasioned a gradual but irresistible and massive shift from mathematical models to computer simulations. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.