Otso Ovaskainen, Henrik Johan de Knegt, and Maria del Mar Delgado
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198714866
- eISBN:
- 9780191783210
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198714866.003.0004
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Biomathematics / Statistics and Data Analysis / Complexity Studies
This chapter introduces mathematical and statistical modelling approaches in community ecology. It starts with a conceptual section, continues with mathematical and statistical sections, and ends ...
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This chapter introduces mathematical and statistical modelling approaches in community ecology. It starts with a conceptual section, continues with mathematical and statistical sections, and ends with a perspectives section. The conceptual section motivates the modelling approaches by providing the necessary background to community ecology. The mathematical sections start with models of two interacting species in homogeneous space, including a model with competitive interactions, a resource–consumer model, and a predator–prey model. The competition model is expanded to heterogeneous space and to the case of many competing species. This model is used to analyse the consequences of habitat loss and fragmentation at the community level. To illustrate the interplay between models and data, the statistical section analyses data generated by the mathematical models, with emphasis on time-series data of two interacting species, point pattern analyses, and joint species distribution models.Less
This chapter introduces mathematical and statistical modelling approaches in community ecology. It starts with a conceptual section, continues with mathematical and statistical sections, and ends with a perspectives section. The conceptual section motivates the modelling approaches by providing the necessary background to community ecology. The mathematical sections start with models of two interacting species in homogeneous space, including a model with competitive interactions, a resource–consumer model, and a predator–prey model. The competition model is expanded to heterogeneous space and to the case of many competing species. This model is used to analyse the consequences of habitat loss and fragmentation at the community level. To illustrate the interplay between models and data, the statistical section analyses data generated by the mathematical models, with emphasis on time-series data of two interacting species, point pattern analyses, and joint species distribution models.