The study of coherence of population dynamics is extremely important for predicting and evaluating the risk of global extinctions. The migration in a network of patch populations (metapopulation) inevitably involves various environmental noises or outside disturbances, which make the migration model time evolving and spatially extended. Thus time-invariant discrete ecological networks are often...

This paper develops a new design method of parallel-distributed-compensation (PDC) fuzzysliding-mode controller. This controller is then applied to control an ecological system. A new fuzzy-blending-sliding-surface based on the PDC concept is introduced. By using this sliding-surface, a PDC-based sliding-mode controller is designed for an ecological system which is a multi-input multioutput non...

Natural ecosystems have experienced widespread degradation due to human activities. Consequently, enhancing resilience has become a primary objective for conservation. Nature reserves are a favored management tool, but we need clearer empirical tests of whether they can impart resilience. Catastrophic flooding in early 2011 impacted coastal ecosystems across eastern Australia. We demonstrate th...

Positive feedbacks between vegetation and fire disturbance may lead to nonlinear ecosystem responses to variation in fire regime. We used a cellular automaton model of fire|vegetation dynamics based on pine savanna communities to explore the potential for fire|vegetation feedbacks to lead to ecological thresholds and abrupt transitions between alternate ecosystem states. We show that (i) ecosys...

Land use is expanding and intensifying in the unprotected lands surrounding many of the world's protected areas. The influence of this land use change on ecological processes is poorly understood. The goal of this paper is to draw on ecological theory to provide a synthetic framework for understanding how land use change around protected areas may alter ecological processes and biodiversity wit...

A representational approach to ecological psychology is presented. This paper identifies a computational-level commonality in ecological psychology research related to passability of apertures. It is argued that a cognitive mechanism capable of comparing the geometric properties of an environment and the geometric properties of the agent can be used to support judgments for action in space.

An alternative view of presence is introduced based on existential philosophy and ecological psychology. This view favors a Heideggerian/Gibsonian metaphysic over the more conventional rationalistic orientation. In this alternative view, notions of subjective presence and objective presence no longer exist. Presence is instead tied to one’s successfully supported action in the environment, this...

© The Ecological Society of America www.frontiersinecology.org I is widely recognized that land conversion, hunting, forest harvesting, and other human influences are depleting biodiversity. Yet the specific mechanisms through which human activities affect species at particular locations remain poorly characterized. This lack of understanding limits our ability to attribute changes in biodivers...

An analysis of United States national forest inventory observations in the Laurentian Mixed Forest reveals a marked increase disturbance between 1999 and 2015. The Province ecological subregion spans northern sections Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin includes area 16.7 17.5 million hectares depending on year. ranges from low 0.13 (0.8% area) 2000 to high 2.09 (11.9% 2014. year 2015 is notable for...