Coupling between Physical and Biological Scales [and Discussion]

Temporal changes in population abundance display a great diversity of patterns. This diversity is acknowledged by reviewers of marine and terrestrial data, but their explanations tend to fall into two categories: internal factors related to population or community structure; and external aspects det...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 1994-01, Vol.343 (1303), p.5-9
Main Authors: Steele, John H., Henderson, Eric W., Mangel, M., Clark, C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospherics
Climate models
Couplings and Scales
Ecological modeling
Fish scales
Marine ecology
Marine fishes
Oceans
Population dynamics
Population ecology
White noise
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Summary:Temporal changes in population abundance display a great diversity of patterns. This diversity is acknowledged by reviewers of marine and terrestrial data, but their explanations tend to fall into two categories: internal factors related to population or community structure; and external aspects determined by the environment. The former we associate with terrestrial studies and the latter with marine. In this paper we shall stress the importance of the characteristic timescales in the dynamics of the populations and their relation to the scales of relevant environmental forces. We shall suggest that the coupling between these different scales, rather than the nature of the internal or external processes themselves, can provide a partial description, if not an explanation, of the diversity of patterns.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.1994.0001