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Noncommutativity in Spatial Ecology

Student-Run Research Seminar

Speaker: Sebastian Schreiber, UC Davis Department of Evolution & Ecology
Location: 3106 MSB
Start time: Wed, Apr 28 2010, 12:10PM

Populations often consist of individuals living in different states (e.g. different spatial locations or different age classes) experiencing fluctuating environmental conditions. The interactive effects of these heterogeneities on population dynamics demands an understanding of products of non-negative random matrices. I will illustrate the importance of this noncommunitivity with recent theoretical developments on persistence of spatially structured populations and the speed of range expansion for stage structured invasive species. These developments lead to surprising conclusions such as persistence of coupled sink populations and temporal correlations accelerating invasions.