Who
are the invited teachers?
Donald L. DeAngelis: Current positions: Ecologist at U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Florida and Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, University of Miami, Florida. Born: 1944. Nationality: US. DDA has a background as physicist (Ph.D. in plasma physics), but became an ecologist through his skills as a modeller. DDA's research has focused on modelling population dynamics of fish, birds and mammals. He has applied individual-based models to link individual behaviour to community and landscape features. DDA has for many years been involved in the environmental management of the Everglades in Florida. DDA is among the founders of the concept of individual-based modelling and he has contributed significantly to the high standard it has today.
Volker Grimm: Current position: Scientist at the UFZ Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig-Halle, Germany. Born: 1958. Nationality: German. VG has an educational background in both biology and physics.VG is a very competent modeller with a broad interest in applied and theoretical ecology. His main research topics have been systems analysis, spatial explicit models, population viability analysis, metapopulations, and individual-based models. He has been involved in modelling of selected species in a conservation context. In a wider perspective, VG has tried to bridge the gap between individual-based models and the traditional population based models, for instance by using IBMs to estimate population parameters. In recent reviews, VG has critically evaluated the costs and benefits of IBMs relative to other modelling approaches.
Geir Huse: Current position: Ass. Prof. , Dept. of Fisheries and Marine biology, University of Bergen. GH finished his PhD on life history strategies and spatial dynamics of Barnets Sea capelin in 1998 and has since been working with individual-based modelling of habitat choice in fish. GH and the other members of the group working with individual-based models in Bergen have pioneered the use of neural networks and genetic algorithms to study adaptive behaviour in fish.
Roland D. Lamberson: Current position: Professor of Mathematics, Director of the Environmental Systems Graduate Program, Humboldt State University. Nationality: US. RDL has a wide expertise in the modeling of natural resources. He has been editor of the journal ‘Natural Resource Modeling’, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Mathematics Consortium and has served as chairman of several of the committees under the Mathematical Association of America. RDL is one of the founders of the Resource Modeling Association, was its president 1986-88, and now serves as its executive secretary. He has organised eight international symposia and has received several professional awards. RDL’s research has dealt with mathematical models relevant for biological conservation and resource management. In recent years he has performed research on the conservation of northern spotted owl, killer whale dynamics, and the use of individual based models of stream fish. In the latter work he and his co-workers have used the SWARM software to develop an individual based model of habitat choice and fitness of stream fish. He has published a large number of papers on the mathematical modeling of natural resources.
Esa Ranta: Since 1998 professor in Animal Ecology, University of Helsinki. Born: 1953. Nationality: Finnish. Most recently, ER had been visiting professor in theoretical ecology at Lund University 1996 and Norfa visiting professor in evolutionary ecology at Uppsala University 1996-1999. He has served as editor (including chief editor) of four journals and is currently council member of the British Ecological Society. ER's research has focused on evolutionary ecology, population dynamics, and behavioural ecology, and he has been extremely productive and influential in all three fields. Many of the research papers deal with the interplay between the behaviour of the individuals and population dynamics.
Wolf Mooij: Since 1992 senior scientist at Department of Food Web Studies at Netherlands Institute of Ecology. Born: 1957. Nationality: Dutch. As Ph.D. student WM worked with fish recruitment in eutrophic lakes, which invoked his interest for modelling. He has developed a modelling framework called OSIRIS, which is currently used in many management-oriented bio-conservation studies. Currently, WM is involved in development of a spatially-explicit model of the snail kite in Florida in collaboration with Don DeAngelis. His models aim at understanding and predicting community dynamics on basis of the traits of the comprising organisms, allowing for integration of ecological and evolutionary thinking.
Chris J. Topping: Course organizers
Gösta Nachman: Course organizers