Effects of neighboring plants on herbivore damage to a focal plant (associational effects) have been documented in many systems and can lead to either increased or decreased herbivore attack. Mechanistic models that explain the observed variety of herbivore responses to local plant community composition have, however, been lacking. We present a model of herbivore responses to patches that consi...

We developed a nutrient-based, plant community and ecosystem model (ArcVeg) designed to simulate the transient effects of increased temperatures on the biomass and community composition of a variety of arctic ecosystems. The model is currently parameterized for upland, mesic ecosystems in high Arctic, low Arctic, treeline, and boreal forest climate zones. A unique feature of ArcVeg is that it i...

The analysis of the molecular response of entire plants or organs to environmental stresses suffers from the cellular complexity of the samples used. Specifically, this cellular complexity masks cell-specific responses to environmental stresses and logically leads to the dilution of the molecular changes occurring in each cell type composing the tissue/organ/plant in response to the stress. The...

Today, in the rangeland management science and determination of rangecapacity, accurate and true information about range production is crucial. In fact, rangeproduction is considered as a basis for range management. The aim of this study was tocompare different methods for the estimation of forage production with four samplingmethods in the rangelands of Kurdistan province, Iran. The sampling m...

The value of a gas fired power plant depends on the spark spread, defined as the difference between the unit price of electricity and the cost of gas. We model the spark spread using two-factor model, allowing mean-reversion in short-term variations and uncertainty in the equilibrium price to which prices revert. We analyze two types of gas plants. The first type is a base load plant, generatin...