Search results for "Spatial Ecology"
showing 10 items of 191 documents
Mapping field-scale spatial patterns of size and activity of the denitrifier community
2009
International audience; There is ample evidence that microbial processes can exhibit large variations in activity on a field scale. However, very little is known about the spatial distribution of the microbial communities mediating these processes. Here we used geostatistical modelling to explore spatial patterns of size and activity of the denitrifying community, a functional guild involved in N-cycling, in a grassland field subjected to different cattle grazing regimes. We observed a non-random distribution pattern of the size of the denitrifier community estimated by quantification of the denitrification genes copy numbers with a macro-scale spatial dependence (6–16 m) and mapped the dis…
A novel method to simulate the 3D chlorophyll distribution in marine oligotrophic waters
2021
Abstract A 3D advection-diffusion-reaction model is proposed to investigate the abundance of phytoplankton in a difficult-to-access ecosystem such as the Gulf of Sirte (southern Mediterranean Sea) characterized by oligotrophic waters. The model exploits experimentally measured environmental variables to reproduce the dynamics of four populations that dominate phytoplankton community in the studied area: Synechococcus, Prochlorococcus HL, Prochlorococcus LL and picoeukaryotes. The theoretical results obtained for phytoplankton abundances are converted into chl-a and Dvchl-a concentrations, and the simulated vertical chlorophyll profiles are compared to the corresponding experimentally acquir…
Spatial patterns of disparity and diversity of the Recent cuttlefishes (Cephalopoda) across the Old World
2003
Aim Diversity and disparity metrics of all Recent cuttlefishes are studied at the macroevolutionary scale (1) to establish the geographical biodiversity patterns of these cephalopods at the species level and (2) to explore the relationships between these two metrics. Location Sampling uses what is known about these tropical, subtropical and warm temperate cephalopods of the Old World based on a literature review and on measurements of museum specimens. Some 111 species spread across seventeen biogeographical areas serve as basic units for exploring diversity and disparity metrics in space. Methods Landmarks describe the shape of the cuttlebone (the inner shell of the sepiids) and difference…
Moment Equations for a Spatially Extended System of Two Competing Species
2005
The dynamics of a spatially extended system of two competing species in the presence of two noise sources is studied. A correlated dichotomous noise acts on the interaction parameter and a multiplicative white noise affects directly the dynamics of the two species. To describe the spatial distribution of the species we use a model based on Lotka-Volterra (LV) equations. By writing them in a mean field form, the corresponding moment equations for the species concentrations are obtained in Gaussian approximation. In this formalism the system dynamics is analyzed for different values of the multiplicative noise intensity. Finally by comparing these results with those obtained by direct simulat…
Spatial recurrence strategies reveal different routes to Turing pattern formation in chemical systems
2009
We analyze the temporal evolution of hexagonal Turing patterns in two Belousov–Zhabotinsky reactions performed in water-in-oil reverse micro-emulsions under different experimental conditions. The two reactions show different routes to pattern formation through localized spots and through a self replication mechanism. The Generalized Recurrence Plot (GRP) and the Generalized Recurrence Quantification Analysis (GRQA) are used for the investigation of spatial patterns and clearly reveal the different routes leading to the formation of stationary Turing structures.
STOCHASTIC DYNAMICS OF TWO PICOPHYTOPLANKTON POPULATIONS IN A REAL MARINE ECOSYSTEM
2013
A stochastic reaction-diffusion-taxis model is analyzed to get the stationary distribution along water column of two species of picophytoplankton, that is picoeukaryotes and Prochlorococcus. The model is valid for weakly mixed waters, typical of the Mediterranean Sea. External random fluctuations are considered by adding a multiplicative Gaussian noise to the dynamical equation of the nutrient concentration. The statistical tests show that shape and magnitude of the theoretical concentration profile exhibit a good agreement with the experimental findings. Finally, we study the effects of seasonal variations on picophytoplankton groups, including an oscillating term in the auxiliary equation…
Noise-induced effects in population dynamics
2002
We investigate the role of noise in the nonlinear relaxation of two ecosystems described by generalized Lotka-Volterra equations in the presence of multiplicative noise. Specifically we study two cases: (i) an ecosystem with two interacting species in the presence of periodic driving; (ii) an ecosystem with a great number of interacting species with random interaction matrix. We analyse the interplay between noise and periodic modulation for case (i) and the role of the noise in the transient dynamics of the ecosystem in the presence of an absorbing barrier in case (ii). We find that the presence of noise is responsible for the generation of temporal oscillations and for the appearance of s…
Stochastic models for phytoplankton dynamics in marine ecosystems
2014
In this thesis, the stochastic advection-reaction-diffusion models are analyzed to obtain the vertical stationary spatial distributions of the main groups of picophytoplankton, which account about for 80% of total chlorophyll on average in Mediterranean Sea. In Chapter 1 we give a short presentation of the experimental and phytoplanktonic data collected during different oceanographic surveys in Mediterranean Sea. In Chapter 2 we introduce the deterministic and stochastic approaches (one-population model) adopted to describe the picoeukaryotes dynamics in Sicily Channel. Moreover, numerical results for the biomass concentration are compared with experimental data by using chi-squared goodnes…
<title>Spectral/spatial integration effects on information extraction from multispectral data: multiresolution approaches</title>
1995
New techniques for information extraction from multispectral data require physical modeling to understand the energy transfer at the atmosphere/surface interface and to develop appropriate inversion procedures, in combination with advanced processing techniques. A multi-step procedure is proposed in this work: the first step implies a binary decision about the second step to be applied in each case. If the pixel is considered as being a `pure' pixel, through a spectral/spatial classification procedure based on multiresolution techniques, then numerical inversion techniques, based on a multiple-scattering reflectance model, are used to extract parameters representing specific surface propert…
Long-Range Ecogeomorphic Processes
2013
Processes operating at larger spatial scales interact with those operating at smaller scales (discussed in the previous chapter) to produce spatial patterns in drylands. Hydrological processes operating at the catchment scale, the effects of grazing, fire, water and wind erosion are considered separately and in relation to their interactions with propagules and plants. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the extent to which feedbacks are central to pattern formation.