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Metapopulation models examine patch dynamics over time to answer potential questions about spatial and demographic ecology. The ecology of metapopulations is a dynamic process of extinction and colonization. Small patches of lower quality (i.e., sinks) are maintained or rescued by a seasonal influx of new immigrants.
Eugene Odum, one of the founders of the science of ecology, stated: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms (i.e.: the "community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living ...
The Society for Ecological Restoration defines restoration as "the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed." [1] Restoration ecology is the academic study of the science of restoration, whereas ecological restoration is the implementation by practitioners. [21]
To answer questions about niche differentiation, it is necessary for ecologists to be able to detect, measure, and quantify the niches of different coexisting and competing species. This is often done through a combination of detailed ecological studies, controlled experiments (to determine the strength of competition), and mathematical models.
Topological ecology at the landscape level of biological organisation (e.g. Urban et al. [26]): On the basis of ecological hierarchy theory, it is presupposed that nature is working at multiple scales and has different levels of organisation which are part of a rate-structured, nested hierarchy. Specifically, it is claimed that, above the ...
Ecology and Evolutionary biology in North America is based on research impact determined by the top 10% of ecology programs. The interactive web of organisms and environment are all part of what the field of Ecology explores. There have been studies in evolution that have worked to prove that "modern organisms have developed from ancestral ones."
When the species abundances of an ecological system are treated with a set of differential equations, it is possible to test for stability by linearizing the system at the equilibrium point. [7] Robert May used this stability analysis in the 1970s which uses the Jacobian matrix or community matrix to investigate the relation between the ...
This change in landscape ecology is proving to have consequences. [2] Generalist species, especially invasive ones, have been seen to benefit from this landscape change whilst specialist species are suffering. [3] For example, the alpha diversity of edge-intolerant birds in Lacandona rainforest, Mexico, is decreasing as edge effects increase. [4]