QEIB: Modeling Population Dynamics and Trophic Interactions in Systems with Unidirectional Flow

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

Many populations, communities, and ecosystems persist in environments where some or all life stages disperse in media with a strong directional bias. Examples include plants with windborn seeds, aquatic organisms in streams, rivers and estuaries, and marine organisms with larval dispersal influenced by ocean currents. The overall objective of this research is to develop a modeling framework describing consumer-resource interactions in such systems. The approach is to study a suite of mathematical models of increasing complexity and ecological specificity. Although many of the results will have wider application, the primary emphasis is on mechanisms that are important in stream ecology.