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...

Most accounts of thresholds between alternate regimes involve a single, dominant shift defined by one, often slowly changing variable in an ecosystem. This paper expands the focus to include similar dynamics in social and economic systems, in which multiple variables may act together in ways that produce interacting regime shifts in social-ecological systems. We use four different regions in th...

for an optimum use of natural resources in the sustainable development trend, there is a need to identify ecological resources in the shortest period of time and minimum possible cost. in this article, we aimed management ecosystem by assessment of plant covers changes at taleghan township in a twenty year period. percentage of landscape and number of patch were among the metrics that were calc...

introduction the urban population experienced rapid growth in the recent decades, particularly between 1975 and 2000 when it has reached from 1.5 to more than 2 billion people. by turn of the century; half of the world's populations are concentrated in cities. this would severely affect the quality of life in urban areas. accordingly, cities will be faced with significant challenges in inf...

Discussions on the use of marine reserves (no-take zones) and, more generally, spatial management of fisheries are, for the most part, devoid of analyses that consider the ecological and economic effects simultaneously. To fill this gap, we develop a two-patch ecological-economic model to investigate the effects of spatial management on fishery profits. Because the fishery effects of spatial ma...

In this paper, we compare the relative amount of error in estimates of change in each of two different classes of spatial pattern statistics calculated from remotely sensed imagery. The more commonly used patch-based statistics require image classification and identification of individual patches. The advantage is that this process isolates particular information classes (e.g., forest) and focu...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can transfer nitrogen (N) to host plants, but the ecological relevance is debated, as total plant N and biomass do not generally increase. The extent to which the symbiosis is mutually beneficial is thought to rely on the stoichiometry of N, phosphorus (P) and carbon (C) availability. While inorganic N fertilization has been shown to elicit strong mutualism, c...

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...

Wildlife damage to crops is a widespread concern among agricultural producers and wildlife professionals. In the United States, raccoon (Procyon lotor) damage to field corn (Zea maize) has become a serious concern, as raccoon depredation to corn has increased significantly in recent years. However, little information is available to suggest the underlying factors responsible for recent increase...