Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top

1993 | Book

Comparing Terrestrial and Marine Ecological Systems Read chapter Read first chapter

Patch Dynamics

Editors: Simon A. Levin, Thomas M. Powell, John W. Steele

Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Book Series : Lecture Notes in Biomathematics

Included in: Professional Book Archive

Login to get access
insite
SEARCH

About this book

From the preface by Joel E. Cohen: "A century from now humanity will live in a managed - or mismanaged - global garden. We are debating the need to preserve tropical forests. Farming of the sea is providing an increasing part of our fish supply. We are beginning to control atmospheric emissions. In 100 years, we shall use novel farming practices and genetic engineering of bacteria to manipulate the methane production of rice fields. The continental shelf will be providing food, energy, possibly even living space. To make such intensive management possible will require massive improvements in data collection and analysis, and especially in our concepts. A century hence we will live on a wired earth: the oceans and the crust of the earth will receive the same comprehensive monitoring now devoted to weather. As the peoples of currently developing countries increase their levels of wealth, the need for global management will become irresistible as impatience with the accidents of nature and intolerance of mismanagement of the environment - especially of living resources - grow. Our control of physical perturbations and chemical inputs to the environment will be judged by the consequences to living organisms and biological communities. How can we obtain the factual and theoretical foundation needed to move from our present, fragmented knowledge and limited abilities to a managed, global garden?" This problem was addressed in the lectures and workshops of a summer school on patch dynamics at Cornell University. The school emphasized the analysis and interpretation of spatial patterns in terrestrial and marine environments. This book contains the course material of this school, combining general reviews with specific applications.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Comparing Terrestrial and Marine Ecological Systems

Comparing Terrestrial and Marine Ecological Systems
Summary
We have entered a period where the study of the earth as a total system is within the reach of our technical and scientific capabilities. Further, an understanding of the interactions of earth, sea, and air is a practical social necessity. These interactions encompass physical, chemical, and biological factors. The biological or ecological components are critical not only as parts of these processes, but as a major and direct impact on man of the consequences of global changes in the system. Yet the possible nature and direction of ecological change is the most difficult aspect to predict and to relate to the other, physical and chemical, processes.
So far the terrestrial and marine sectors1 have been considered separately. There can be good reasons for this lack of integration. The practical logistics (ships versus jeeps) are one reason for this separation. The organization of research institutes and of the federal funding exacerbates the dichotomy. But the critical question is whether the science itself requires this division. A workshop in Santa Fe in 1989 was held to address this question specifically and to propose measures to bring the components together. The need for such a meeting was evident from the discussions. The participants agreed that they all acquired new and useful ideas from the exchange of information and concepts. More significantly, these discussions revealed many topics that required and would benefit from more detailed and extensive consideration.
The scientific interests and excitement of generalizing across sectors was the dominant theme. For example, is the correct comparison between the longest-lived components—trees and fish—rather than at the same trophic level? We were also aware of the societal importance of understanding the very different consequences of human disturbance. Thus, assessments of waste disposal options in each sector of the environment and at local, regional, or global scales demand comparative study. Especially, we were conscious that any real convergence in ideas and integrations of theories would be a long-term process involving the removal of institutional and funding barriers. Therè was no doubt, however, that the perceived need to view our world as a single system requires ecological theory and practice to achieve a strong common basis.
At this preliminary meeting we sketched some major topics for comparative studies (food web structure, patchiness, biodiversity, etc.) and methods for promoting convergent evolution (workshops, summer schools, paired collaboration, production of texts, etc.). The summer school at Cornell in 1991 was the direct outcome of these discussions. It is intended to be the first in a series that will cover the topics listed in this introductory section, which draws on the report of the 1989 meeting and is intended as background to the subsequent material.
John H. Steele, Steven R. Carpenter, Joel E. Cohen, Paul K. Dayton, Robert E. Ricklefs

Methods and Descriptions: An Overview

Frontmatter
1. Introduction to Spatial Statistics
Abstract
This chapter is intended to provide an overview of some basic theory and applications of spatial statistics. The student is assumed to be familiar with elementary statistical principles of probability, probability distributions, statistical moments, and significance tests. The emphasis here is on the ecological applications of spatial autocorrelation theory. These notes borrow heavily from textbooks by Cliff and Ord (1981) and Upton and Fingleton (1985) and from the monograph by Goodchild (1986). The reader should consult Anselin (1988) for a more advanced treatment of spatial autoregressive models. The review of geostatistics by Journel (1989) is also recommended. (See also the chapter in this volume on geostatistics.)
Frank W. Davis
2. The Spatial Nature of Soil Variability and Its Implications for Field Studies
Abstract
Recent quantifications of soil heterogeneity (e.g., Burgess and Webster 1980, Vieira et al. 1981, Yost et al. 1982, ten Berge et al. 1983, Wollum and Cassel 1984) have established the general validity of geostatistical principles for soil attributes. This means that soil and related properties (e.g., plant growth) are typically not independently distributed but characterized by autocorrelation. Besides the applicability of the use of geostatistical techniques such as kriging, this also has implications for other types of studies that are conducted in the landscape. This chapter addresses in general terms the nature of soil variability and its relation to soil-forming processes. In addition, it discusses sampling designs for various types of studies that are conducted in the landscape and are therefore affected by spatially dependent variance structures.
Harold M. van Es
3. Phytoplankton Patchiness: Ecological Implications and Observation Methods
Abstract
Phytoplankton ecosystems were once viewed as nearly static (or at least only slowly varying) systems on scales of roughly a few days and spatial scales of a few tens of kilometers. A notable example of research based on this view is the map of primary production by Koblentz-Mishke et al. (1970). As sampling techniques improved, variability was found to occur at smaller and smaller scales. Much of this variability was thought to be controlled by physical processes, such as turbulence, and these processes were included in models of the variance spectrum (Denman et al. 1977, Denman and Platt 1976). These ideas challenged the traditional notions of stability, suggesting that maps of “average” biomass and productivity were essentially meaningless; the structure of the variability of the planktonic ecosystem was thought to be more important.
Mark R. Abbott
4. Measuring the Fate of Patches in the Water: Larval Dispersal
Abstract
The aquatic contributions to this volume have focused on the dynamics of either patches on the substratum (benthic communities) or patches in the water column (pelagic communities). This contribution couples these two foci, exploring the importance to benthic organisms of the dynamics of patches in the water. We will outline benthic processes that depend on the transport of materials in the water column. We will describe an empirical technique for quantifying the mixing and transport of patches in nature, and will present some examples of our measurements for wave-swept rocky shores (habitats important in ecological research but difficult to study hydrodynamically). Then we will discuss how future modeling efforts might incorporate these findings.
Mimi A. R. Koehl, Thomas M. Powell, Geoff Dairiki
5. Determining Process Through Pattern: Reality or Fantasy?
Abstract
Terrestrial ecologists are becoming increasingly aware of the need to understand the dynamics of ecological systems across a range of spatial and temporal scales (e.g., Wiens 1989, Denslow 1990, Chesson 1990). Part of the reason for this interest is a growing awareness of the largescale ecological problems impacting society. For example, global warming, acid rain, deforestation, and the development of the antarctic ozone hole all involve processes acting over a very broad range of spatial scales. Unfortunately, we are faced with a fundamental problem in understanding the relationship between these broad-scale environmental problems and basic ecological processes. This is due in large part to the approaches traditionally employed by ecologists.
Kirk A. Moloney
6. Description and Analysis of Spatial Patterns
Abstract
Spatial pattern is a conspicuous characteristic of any ecosystem and has received much attention from researchers over the last decade and a half (e.g., Steele 1978, Pickett and White 1985, Kolasa and Pickett 1991), most recently under the name of landscape ecology (Forman and Godron 1986, Turner and Gardner 1991). Description of patchiness in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial systems presents different problems, particularly in terms of mechanisms of patch formation (e.g., Wiens 1976 and Pickett and White 1985 in terrestrial systems; and Legendre and Demers 1984, Mackas et al. 1985, Hamner 1988, Barry and Dayton 1991, and Downing 1991 in aquatic systems). Deutschman et al. (this volume) supply specific examples of mechanisms of patch formation.
Graciela García-Moliner, Doran M. Mason, Charles H. Greene, Agustín Lobo, Bai-lian Li, Jianguo Wu, G. A. Bradshaw

Concepts and Models: An Overview

Frontmatter
7. Ecological Interactions in Patchy Environments: From Patch-Occupancy Models to Cellular Automata
Abstract
The ecological theory of species interactions rests largely on the competition and predatorprey models of Lotka, Volterra, Nicholson, and Gause (e.g., May 1973). These models neglect spatial structure in general, and patchiness in particular. In this paper we introduce cellular automata (CA) as a new class of models for population interactions in space. We will discuss the relations between CA models and the more familiar reaction-diffusion and patch-occupancy formulations, and compare the results of a simple CA competition model to the corresponding Markov chain patch-occupancy model. This comparison reveals some of the factors that determine when simple patch-occupancy models are successful approximations, and when spatially explicit CA models are more appropriate.
Hal Caswell, Ron J. Etter
8. Spatial Aggregation Arising from Convective Processes
Abstract
Irving Langmuir (1938) carried out the first scientific investigation of the phenomenon now called Langmuir circulation. This physical process became known to him by the spatial aggregation of biological material that it caused, which he observed as rows of Sargassum on the ocean surface during a cross-Atlantic voyage by ship. Had the patchiness in the Sargassum distribution been less apparent, it is very likely that the discovery of the physical phenomenon would have taken a much longer time.
Sidney Leibovich
9. Two-Patch Metapopulation Dynamics
Abstract
The concept of metapopulation is widely used by modelers exploring the effects of spatial heterogeneity on population dynamics. Yet prima facie, it is a remarkably restrictive idealization implying that a population is distributed over a number of patches, each sufficiently well defined to permit local definition of vital rates, with migration between patches occurring over time scales comparable in magnitude to that of population change. For a small number of systems, this abstraction may be defensible, but metapopulation models commonly are poor approximations to real systems. For example, it is often unclear what constitutes a patch, with a suitable definition for considering vital rates being inappropriate for modeling migration. Therefore, metapopulation models are mainly useful for developing intuitive understanding on broader questions concerning the relationship between spatial heterogeneity and population density and stability. For this reason, it is not only important to derive mathematical results on particular models, it is also essential to understand intuitively the various stabilizing and destabilizing mechanisms, as this intuition is likely to be of more general applicability than the models from which it was obtained.
Roger M. Nisbet, Cheryl J. Briggs, William S. C. Gurney, William W. Murdoch, Allan Stewart-Oaten
10. Coupling of Circulation and Marine Ecosystem Models
Abstract
The history of modeling biological processes associated with marine plankton populations is relatively short, having its origins in the mid-1930s to mid-1940s (see Mills 1989 for an overview). The first models were developed to explain and quantify the processes that resulted in seasonal plankton cycles (e.g., Riley 1946). More recent models have retained the basic structure of the early models, but have extended their realism by incorporating advances in measurements and understanding of biological oceanographic processes.
Eileen E. Hofmann
11. An Invitation to Structured (Meta)Population Models
Abstract
The contribution of an individual to population growth and interaction depends, as a rule, on various characteristics related to its physiology and its spatial position. Structured population models take this observation seriously and start the modeling process at the individual level, (i-level for short). First an i-state space Ω is specified and the movement of individuals through Ω, in dependence on the state of the environment (E-state), is described. Also described are the dependence on i-state and E-state of reproduction, death, and influence on the environment. These ingredients at the i-level completely determine the deterministic formulation at the p-level(p for population): simple bookkeeping principles tell us how the p-equations should look. (Admittedly, however, the appearance of the p-equations depends somewhat on our choice of p-state space: either L 1(Ω), if we expect that the population distribution over Ω has a nice density or M(Ω), if we expect that the distribution may contain measures concentrated on subsets of Ω).
Odo Diekmann
12. Stochastic Models of Growth and Competition
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to give an introduction to interacting particle systems by describing the behavior of several examples. In each system there is a collection of spatial locations called sites, which in all our examples will be the d-dimensional integer lattice, Z d , that is, the points in d-dimensional space with all integer coordinates. At each time t ∈ [0, ∞), each site can be in one of a finite set of states, F, so the state of the process at time t is a. function ξ t : Z d → F. The time evolution is described by declaring that each site changes its state at a rate that depends upon the states of a finite number of neighboring sites. Here, we say that something happens at rate r if the probability of an occurrence between times t and t + h is ~ rh as h → 0 is small; that is, when divided by h, the probability converges to r as h → 0.
Richard Durrett
13. Mechanisms of Patch Formation
Abstract
Many mechanisms both physical (e.g., light, temperature, ocean currents, density gradients, topography) and biological (e.g., allelopathy, competition, predation, selective foraging) are considered responsible for patch formation. Wiens (1976) presented an excellent review of population responses to environmental patchiness. He identified localized random disturbances (e.g., fire, erosion, tree windfalls), predation, selective herbivory, and vegetational patterns as potential causes of patch formation. Roughgarden (1977) discussed five general mechanisms that are responsible for patchiness: resource distribution, dispersal, aggregation behavior, competition, and reaction-diffusion.
Douglas H. Deutschman, Gay A. Bradshaw, W. Michael Childress, Kendra L. Daly, Daniel Grünbaum, Mercedes Pascual, Nathan H. Schumaker, Jianguo Wu

Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences: An Overview

Frontmatter
14. The Ocean Carbon Cycle and Climate Change: An Analysis of Interconnected Scales
Abstract
Many studies of patch dynamics develop from provocative observations: hence, the scales of interest are those at which observations were practical. If further work suggests that patchiness at scales outside the range observed may be important, then the observation capabilities may be expanded into these ranges of scales. Recently, oceanographers have taken on a daunting challenge where the choice of scale selection has been removed. The ocean is important to climate change and global warming—as a storer and transporter of heat and carbon—but our understanding of the operative processes is inadequate to make predictions with the required skill. We cannot choose the observational “window” where we are most capable: we must address all scales that contribute to the global climate. In particular, to assess the role of the marine ecosystem in the ocean carbon cycle, we have had initially to extrapolate to ocean basin scales (105 km) from, for example, a few tens of sediment traps (1 m diameter) or water samples (10 cm, based on a 1 L sample). How do we bridge over 9 orders of magnitude to address problems of global scale from water samples typically of 1 L volume?
Kenneth L. Denman
15. Shifting Mosaic Metapopulation Dynamics
Abstract
Many of the features long viewed as among the most important influences on tree population dynamics have only recently begun to be incorporated in analyzable models. These processes tend to operate at several spatial and temporal scales, and they represent factors that produce and/or depend on heterogeneity. Some of these considerations include:
  • Growth-dependent thinning: Thinning rates at local scales (100 to 102 m2) are determined by growth rates. There is no “carrying capacity” at such scales in the traditional sense, because plants are continually growing and, therefore, thinning.
  • Changing importance of density-dependent and density-independent mortality: The relative importances of different mortality risks change with canopy coverage, and they influence recruitment. Thinning caused by crowding has different demographic consequences than do juvenile death and senescence.
  • Episodic recruitment: Seedling establishment is locally episodic, being associated with “disturbance”, i.e. specific types of mortality.
James S. Clark
16. Modeling Fire Regime in Mediterranean Landscapes
Abstract
This chapter summarizes some current approaches to modeling fire spread and fire regime over heterogeneous landscapes. Applications of satellite remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are emphasized. A regional fire regime simulation model (REFIRES) is described that has been designed to analyze the relationships between fire history and vegetation pattern in chaparral landscapes. For additional details the reader should consult Davis and Burrows (In Press) and Burrows (1987).
Frank W. Davis, David A. Burrows
17. The Influence Of Regional Processes On Local Communities: Examples From An Experimentally Fragmented Landscape
Abstract
Until recently, most empirical research in terrestrial community ecology—and, in particular, experimental studies (Hairston 1989)—concentrated on phenomena at small spatial scales (Kareiva and Anderson 1988). Yet local communities are embedded in a spatially heterogeneous world and may be influenced by processes operating at a multiplicity of spatial and temporal scales (Ricklefs 1987, Roughgarden et al. 1988, Levin 1988, Wiens 1989, Hastings 1990). There is increasing urgency in understanding the role of spatial processes in community ecology, given that a pervasive effect of humans on the earth is the destruction and fragmentation of natural habitats. Habitat fragmentation potentially influences a multitude of ecological phenomena, ranging from individual behavior to population persistence, to the strength and predictability of interspecific interactions, to ecosystem fluxes (Saunders et al. 1991). Ameliorating the effects of habitat fragmentation will require a deep understanding of the role of spatial processes in population and community dynamics.
Robert D. Holt, Michael S. Gaines
18. Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Patchiness: A Marine-Terrestrial Perspective
Abstract
A quantitative description of patchiness and the assessment of its effects on ecological and evolutionary processes represents a major research focus as well as a challenge for ecologists and evolutionary biologists (e.g., Pickett and White 1985, Shorrocks and Swingland 1990, Kolasa and Pickett 1991). Patchiness is neither unique in origin nor characteristic of particular temporal or spatial scales; rather, patchiness emerges from the interactions between physical and biotic processes (Levin 1976, 1978) and is apparent at any scale of resolution. The scale dependency of patchiness and the complexity it generates calls attention to the need for new modeling approaches where spatial and temporal heterogeneity is explicitly incorporated (e.g., Hassell et al. 1991, Deutschman et al., this volume) and for new methodological tools to deal with problems of scale (e.g., Milne 1992, Garcia-Moliner et al., this volume).
Pablo A. Marquet, Marie-Josee Fortin, Jesus Pineda, David O. Wallin, James Clark, Yegang Wu, Steve Bollens, Claudia M. Jacobi, Robert D. Holt
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Patch Dynamics
Editors
Simon A. Levin
Thomas M. Powell
John W. Steele
Copyright Year
1993
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Electronic ISBN
978-3-642-50155-5
Print ISBN
978-3-540-56525-3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-50155-5