The LPA model is a three dimensional system of nonlinear difference equations that has found many applications in population dynamics and ecology. In this paper, we consider a special case of the model (a case that approximates that used in experimental bifurcation and chaos studies) and prove several theorems concerning the existence and stability of periodic cycles, invariant loops, and chaos...

Starting with my acquaintance with W. Ross Ashby, this paper offers an account of one aspect of his work, information theory. It shows his motivation to embrace information theory, how he extended it, where it failed while fertilizing reconstructability analysis, and what it took for a solution to emerge. Based on Ashby‘s recognition of the material limits of computation, the paper continues hi...

Human infl uences on ecological drivers are increasingly recognized as dominant processes across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Regional to global-scale changes in drivers and important resources, such as atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, climate, and nitrogen deposition, are known to alter biotic structure, ecosystem function, and biogeochemical processes with feedbacks to hu...

The study of population dynamics addresses three questions that are not always separated in discussions with empirical data. Two questions address population regulation. What stabilises population density is the first question, and, in spite of much theory, little progress has been made in answering this question empirically. The assumption of an equilibrium density is impossible to test and di...

To survive, all organisms must sense and respond to information from their environment. This is true of many organisms, including plants, which need do the things that other while operating under limitations being sessile lacking a central nervous system. In this article, we explore how theory can apply plants briefly review types sources mechanisms use perceive We identify describe three prima...