An increasing number of recent studies involve the fitting of mechanistic models to ecological time-series. In some cases, it is necessary for these models to be discrete-time approximations of continuous-time processes. We test the validity of discretization in the case of measles, where time-series models have recently been developed to estimate ecological parameters directly from data. We fi...

Ecological parameters (soil invertebrates, microbial activity, and plant community) were assessed in a metal contaminated site in an abandoned lead smelter and non-contaminated reference sites, as part of an ecological risk assessment (ERA). Vegetation cover inside the smelter area was lower and presented a more homogenous species composition than outside. A more simplified and less abundant ve...

This chapter illustrates insights into individual-based spatial models of ecological communities that can be gained from deterministic approximations. To do this we revisit some of the issues raised in Chapter 1 and show how approximations can help to separate the signal of an ecological stochastic process from intrinsic random variation; clarify qualitative dependencies that underlie the ecolo...

Implemented by a national law, the National Aquatic Ecological Monitoring Program (NAEMP) has been assessing the ecological health status of surface waters, focusing on streams and rivers, in Korea since 2007. The program involves ecological monitoring of multiple aquatic biota such as benthic diatoms, macroinvertebrates, fish, and plants as well as water quality and habitat parameters. Taking ...

Theory in spatial ecology has to steer a narrow and challenging course between the Scylla of oversimplification and the Charybdis of intractability. Until about 15 years ago, most of theoretical ecology was based on the mean-field paradigm, thus targeting well-mixed ecological systems. Although the underlying assumption of spatial homogeneity is violated for many, if not most, ecological popula...