Tuesday, August 4, 2009: 2:10 PM
Mesilla, Albuquerque Convention Center
Rachata Muneepeerakul, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, Heather J. Lynch, Ecology & Evolution, SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, US Geological Survey, William F. Fagan, Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD and Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe, Environmental Engineering and Water Resources, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Background/Question/Methods Most theoretical tools have traditionally been devised to tackle problems in typical 2D landscape or mean-field setting. However, many important ecosystems on Earth are situated along dendritic structures, e.g., river networks, which call for better understanding of how life operates in such a topology. Here, I address some developments on how some such theoretical tools are made applicable to dendritic structures, and questions they may be able to tackle. In particular, these include a neutral metacommunity model and a game-theoric approach to dispersal in dendritic networks.
Results/Conclusions
The neutral metacommunity model has been successfully implemented to capture large-scale spatial biodiversity patterns of freshwater fish in the Mississippi-Missouri river system; this type of model lends itself well to other questions such as the effects of altered connectivity of dendritic network. The game-theoric approach to dispersal provides some insights on how dispersal interplays with spatial heterogeneity and invasion vulnerability in dendritic structures.
