Topological early warning signals: Quantifying varying routes to extinction in a spatially distributed population model.

Understanding and predicting critical transitions in spatially explicit ecological systems is particularly challenging due to their complex spatial and temporal dynamics and high dimensionality. Here, we explore changes in population distribution patterns during a critical transition (an extinction event) using computational topology. Computational topology allows us to quantify certain features of a population distribution pattern, such as the level of fragmentation.

A downstream drift into chaos: Asymmetric dispersal in a classic density dependent population model.

In the ocean, propagules with a planktonic stage are typically dispersed some distance downstream of the parent generation, introducing an asymmetry to the dispersal. Ocean-dwelling species have also been shown to exhibit chaotic population dynamics. Therefore, we must better understand chaotic population dynamics under the influence of asymmetrical dispersal.

Stock assessment and end-to-end ecosystem models alter dynamics of fisheries data.

Although all models are simplified approximations of reality, they remain useful tools for understanding, predicting, and managing populations and ecosystems. However, a model's utility is contingent on its suitability for a given task. Here, we examine two model types: single-species fishery stock assessment and multispecies marine ecosystem models.

Revisiting the logistic map: A closer look at the dynamics of a classic chaotic population model with ecologically realistic spatial structure and dispersal.

There is an ongoing debate about the applicability of chaotic and nonlinear models to ecological systems. Initial introduction of chaotic population models to the ecological literature was largely theoretical in nature and difficult to apply to real-world systems. Here, we build upon and expand prior work by performing an in-depth examination of the dynamical complexities of a spatially explicit chaotic population, within an ecologically applicable modeling framework.