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Geology topics

D.L. DeAngelis

Publications and source records attributed to D.L. DeAngelis.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS2003

Mathematical modeling relevant to closed artificial ecosystems

The mathematical modeling of ecosystems has contributed much to the understanding of the dynamics of such systems. Ecosystems can include not only the natural variety, but also artificial systems designed and controlled by humans. These can range from agricultural systems and activated sludge plants, down to mesocosms, microcosms, and aquaria, which may have practical or research applications. Some purposes may require the design of systems that are completely closed, as far as material cycling is concerned. In all cases, mathematical modeling can help not only to understand the dynamics of the system, but also to design methods of control to keep the system operating in desired ranges. This paper reviews mathematical modeling relevant to the simulation and control of closed or semi-closed artificial ecosystems designed for biological production and recycling in applications in space. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of COSPAR.

Advances in Space Research↗
USGS2002

Optimal exploitation of spatially distributed trophic resources and population stability

The relationships between optimal foraging of individuals and population stability are addressed by testing, with a spatially explicit model, the effect of patch departure behaviour on individual energetics and population stability. A factorial experimental design was used to analyse the relevance of the behavioural factor in relation to three factors that are known to affect individual energetics; i.e. resource growth rate (RGR), assimilation efficiency (AE), and body size of individuals. The factorial combination of these factors produced 432 cases, and 1000 replicate simulations were run for each case. Net energy intake rates of the modelled consumers increased with increasing RGR, consumer AE, and consumer body size, as expected. Moreover, through their patch departure behaviour, by selecting the resource level at which they departed from the patch, individuals managed to substantially increase their net energy intake rates. Population stability was also affected by the behavioural factors and by the other factors, but with highly non-linear responses. Whenever resources were limiting for the consumers because of low RGR, large individual body size or low AE, population density at the equilibrium was directly related to the patch departure behaviour; on the other hand, optimal patch departure behaviour, which maximised the net energy intake at the individual level, had a negative influence on population stability whenever resource availability was high for the consumers. The consumer growth rate (r) and numerical dynamics, as well as the spatial and temporal fluctuations of resource density, which were the proximate causes of population stability or instability, were affected by the behavioural factor as strongly or even more strongly than by the others factors considered here. Therefore, patch departure behaviour can act as a feedback control of individual energetics, allowing consumers to optimise a potential trade-off between short-term individual fitness and long-term population stability. ?? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Ecological Modelling↗
USGS2000

Dynamics of prey moving through a predator field: a model of migrating juvenile salmon

The migration of a patch of prey through a field of relatively stationary predators is a situation that occurs frequently in nature. Making quantitative predictions concerning such phenomena may be difficult, however, because factors such as the number of the prey in the patch, the spatial length and velocity of the patch, and the feeding rate and satiation of the predators all interact in a complex way. However, such problems are of great practical importance in many management situations; e.g., calculating the mortality of juvenile salmon (smolts) swimming down a river or reservoir containing many predators. Salmon smolts often move downstream in patches short compared with the length of the reservoir. To take into account the spatial dependence of the interaction, we used a spatially-explicit, individual-based modeling approach. We found that the mortality of prey depends strongly on the number of prey in the patch, the downstream velocity of prey in the patch, and the dispersion or spread of the patch in size through time. Some counterintuitive phenomena are predicted, such as predators downstrean capturing more prey per predator than those upstream, even though the number of prey may be greatly depleted by the time the prey patch reaches the downstream predators. Individual-based models may be necessary for complex spatial situations, such as salmonid migration, where processes such as schooling occur at fine scales and affect system predictions. We compare some results to predictions from other salmonid models. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.

Mathematical Biosciences↗
USGS2000

A dynamic landscape model for fish in the Everglades and its application to restoration

A model (ALFISH) for fish functional groups in freshwater marshes of the greater Everglades area of southern Florida has been developed. Its main objective is to assess the spatial pattern of fish densities through time across freshwater marshes. This model has the capability of providing a dynamic measure of the spatially-explicit food resources available to wading birds. ALFISH simulates two functional groups, large and small fish, where the larger ones can prey on the small fish type. Both functional groups are size-structured. The marsh landscape is modeled as 500×500 m spatial cells on a grid across southern Florida. A hydrology model predicts water levels in the spatial cells on 5-day time steps. Fish populations spread across the marsh during flooded conditions and either retreat into refugia (alligator ponds), move to other spatial cells, or die if their cell dries out. ALFISH has been applied to the evaluation of alternative water regulation scenarios under the Central and South Florida Comprehensive Project Review Study. The objective of this Review Study is to compare alternative methods for restoring historical ecological conditions in southern Florida. ALFISH has provided information on which plans are most are likely to increase fish biomass and its availability to wading bird populations.

Ecological Modelling↗
USGS1999

Effects of spatial grouping on the functional response of predators

A unified mechanistic approach is given for the derivation of various forms of functional response in predator-prey models. The derivation is based on the principle-of-mass action but with the crucial refinement that the nature of the spatial distribution of predators and/or opportunities for predation are taken into account in an implicit way. If the predators are assumed to have a homogeneous spatial distribution, then the derived functional response is prey-dependent. If the predators are assumed to form a dense colony or school in a single (possibly moving) location, or if the region where predators can encounter prey is assumed to be of limited size, then the functional response depends on both predator and prey densities in a manner that reflects feeding interference between predators. Depending on the specific assumptions, the resulting functional response may be of Beddington-DeAngelis type, of Hassell-Varley type, or ratio-dependent.

Theoretical Population Biology↗
USGS1999

Relationships between hydraulic parameters in a small stream under varying flow and seasonal conditions

Twenty conservative tracer injections were carried out in the same reach of a small woodland stream in order to determine how variation in discharge and leaf accumulation affect stream hydraulic parameters. The injections were made at various discharge rates ranging from 2-6 to 40 1/s. Five of the injections were made during late autumn, when there were large accumulations of leaves in the stream. Estimates of hydraulic parameters were made by fitting a transient storage solute transport model to conservative tracer concentration profiles. Velocity increased almost linearly with increasing discharge, indicating a decline in the Darcy friction factor. Dispersion also increased with increasing discharge, especially for the lower flow injections. The relative size of the storage zone was small (???0??1). There was no definable relationship between discharge and the relative storage zone size, but the rates of exchange between the storage zone and the main channel increased markedly with increasing discharge. The presence of large accumulations of leaves had a clear effect on the hydraulic characteristics of the stream, producing much higher friction factors, larger storage zone sizes and lower velocity than would have been predicted by discharge alone. Copyright ?? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hydrological Processes↗
USGS1998

Landscape modeling for Everglades ecosystem restoration

A major environmental restoration effort is under way that will affect the Everglades and its neighboring ecosystems in southern Florida. Ecosystem and population-level modeling is being used to help in the planning and evaluation of this restoration. The specific objective of one of these modeling approaches, the Across Trophic Level System Simulation (ATLSS), is to predict the responses of a suite of higher trophic level species to several proposed alterations in Everglades hydrology. These include several species of wading birds, the snail kite, Cape Sable seaside sparrow, Florida panther, white-tailed deer, American alligator, and American crocodile. ATLSS is an ecosystem landscape-modeling approach and uses Geographic Information System (GIS) vegetation data and existing hydrology models for South Florida to provide the basic landscape for these species. A method of pseudotopography provides estimates of water depths through time at 28 ?? 28-m resolution across the landscape of southern Florida. Hydrologic model output drives models of habitat and prey availability for the higher trophic level species. Spatially explicit, individual-based computer models simulate these species. ATLSS simulations can compare the landscape dynamic spatial pattern of the species resulting from different proposed water management strategies. Here we compare the predicted effects of one possible change in water management in South Florida with the base case of no change. Preliminary model results predict substantial differences between these alternatives in some biotic spatial patterns. ?? 1998 Springer-Verlag.

Florida↗
USGS1998

Consequences of cannibalism and competition for food in a smallmouth bass population: An individual-based modeling study

We used an individual-based modeling approach to study the consequences of cannibalism and competition for food in a freshwater fish population. We simulated the daily foraging, growth, and survival of the age-0 fish and older juvenile individuals of a sample population to reconstruct patterns of density dependence in the age-0 fish during the growth season. Cannibalism occurs as a part of the foraging process. For age-0 fish, older juvenile fish are both potential cannibals and competitors of food. We found that competition and cannibalism produced intraclass and interclass density dependence. Our modeling results suggested the following. (1) With low density of juvenile fish and weak interclass interactions, the age-0 fish recruitment shows a Beverton-Holt type of density dependence. (2) With high density of juvenile fish and strong interclass interactions, the age-0 fish recruitment shows a Ricker type of density dependence, and overcompensation occurs. (3) Interclass competition of food is responsible for much of the overcompensation. (4) Cannibalism intensifies the changes in the recruitment that are brought about by competition. Cannibalism can (a) generally reduce the recruitment, (b) particularly reduce the maximum level of recruitment, (c) cause overcompensation to occur at lower densities, and (d) produce a stronger overcompensation. (5) Growth is also a function of density. Cannibalism generally improves average growth of cannibals. (6) Variation in the lengths of age-0 fish increases with density and with a decreased average growth. These results imply that cannibalism and competition for food could strongly affect recruitment dynamics. Our model also showed that the rate of cannibalism either could be fairly even through the whole season or could vary dramatically. The individual-based modeling approach can help ecologists understand the mechanistic connection between daily behavioral and physiological processes operating at the level of individual organisms and seasonal patterns of population structure and dynamics. ?? Copyright by the American Fisheries Society 1998.

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society↗
USGS1997

Source-sink dynamics and the coexistence of species on a single resource

We investigate the potential for coexistence of species that compete for a shared resource when the resource occurs in both a source area acting as a refuge and a sink area where it is used by the competing species. Our model shows that the mixing rate between the source and sink resource populations has a dramatic influence on the outcome of competition. When there is a strict sink–source dependence, so that resource renewal in the sink is entirely dependent on the source, only exploitation competition decides which species can survive at a very small mixing rate. Increasing the flow rate basically amounts to increasing the role played by interference competition. If interspecific interference is very small, compared with intraspecific interference, increasing the mixing rate allows coexistence of many species, indeed, unlimited coexistence if the species' resource exploitation efficiencies are similar enough. If interspecific interference is significant and there is a trade-off between the exploitation and interference competitive abilities of two species, it is possible to have one species replacing the other along a gradient of increasing mixing rate, with either coexistence or alternative single-species equilibria at intermediate values of the mixing rate. It is also possible to have one species always outcompeting the other, or alternative single-species stable equilibria at large mixing rates. When the strict sink–source dependence is relaxed by allowing the resource to have a partly independent renewal–loss dynamics in the sink area, the variety of possible outcomes along a gradient of mixing rate is further increased. These outcomes are often strongly sensitive to the parameters of resource dynamics and interspecific interference competition. The implications of these results for biological conservation can be profound; detailed knowledge of interspecific interactions appears to be necessary to determine the effect of any land management that alters dispersal opportunities.

Theoretical Population Biology↗
USGS1997

Temperature effects on stocks and stability of a phytoplankton-zooplankton model and the dependence on light and nutrients

A model of a closed phytoplankton—zooplankton ecosystem was analyzed for effects of temperature on stocks and stability and the dependence of these effects on light and total nutrient concentration of the system. An analysis of the steady state equations showed that the effect of temperature on zooplankton and POM biomass was levelled when primary production is nutrient limited. Temperature increase had a generally negative effect on all biomasses at high nutrient levels due to increased maintenance costs. Nutrient limitation of net primary production is the main factor governing the effect of stocks and flows as well as the stability of the system. All components of the system, except for phytoplankton biomass, are proportional to net production and thus to the net effect of light on photosynthesis. However, temperature determines the slope of that relationship. The resilience of the system was measured by calculating the eigenvalues of the steady state. Under oligotrophic conditions, the system can be stable, but an increase in temperature can cause instability or a decrease in resilience. This conclusion is discussed in the face of recent models that take spatial heterogeneity into account and display far more stable behavior, in better agreement to empirical data. Using simulations, we found that the amplitude of fluctuations of the herbivore stock increases with temperature while the mean biomass and minimum values decrease in comparison with steady state predictions

Ecological Modelling↗