YIBS 1997-1998 Annual Report

IV. RESEARCH CENTERS

A. Center for Computational Ecology

Oswald J. Schmitz, Director

Associate Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and

The School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

 

Publications

 

Baatz, M. and G. P. Wagner 1997. Adaptive inertia caused by hidden pleiotroic effects. Theor. Population Biology, 51, 49-66.

 

Baily, W., J. Kim, G. P. Wagner, and F. Ruddle 1997: Phylgenetic reconstruction of Hox Cluster duplications. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 14, 843-853.

 

Booth, G. 1997. Swarm Gecko: A 2-D world for ecological modeling.

Artificial Life

 

Calabretta, R. C., G. P. Wagner, S. Nolfi, and D. Parisi 1997: Evolutionary mechanisms for the origin of modular design in artificial neural networks. Proceedings of the International Conference on Complex Systems, Nashua, NH 21-26 September 1997

 

Johnston, K.M. and O.J. Schmitz. 1997. Influence of climate change on the distribution of selected wildlife species within the continental USA. Global Change Biology 3: 531-544

 

Schmitz, O.J., A.P. Beckerman and S.Litman. 1997. Functional responses of adaptive consumers and community stability with emphasis on the dynamics of plant-herbivore systems. Evolutionary Ecology 11:773-784.

 

Schmitz, O.J. and G. Booth. 1997. Modeling food web complexity: the consequences of individual-based, spatially explicit behavioral ecology on trophic interactions. Evolutionary Ecology 11:379-398.

 

Karieva, P., D.K. Skelly and M. Ruckelshaus. 1997. Reevaluating the use of models to predict the consequences of habitat loss and fragmentation. Pages 156-166 in (S.T.A. Picket, R. Ostfeld, M. Shachak and K.E. Likens, Editors) Enhancing the ecological basis of conservation: heterogeneity, ecosystem function, and biodiversity. Chapman and Hall, New York.

 

Abrams, P.A. and O.J. Schmitz. 1998. The effect of risk of mortality on the foraging behavior of animals faced with time- and gut-capacity constraints. Evolutionary Ecology (in press).

 

Wagner, G. P., G. Booth and H. Homayoun-Chaichian 1997. A Population Genetic Theory of Canalization. Evolution, 51, 329-347.

 

Dudgeon, S., A. Wagner, J.R. Vaisnys, L. Buss 1998. Dynamics of gastrovascular circulation in the colonial hydroid, Podocoryne carnea. The one-polyp case. Invertebrate Biology

 

Mokady, O. Dick, M. H., Lackschewitz, D., Schiewater, B., and L. W. Buss 1998. Over one-half billion years of head conservation: Expression of an ems class gene in Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus (Cnidaria:Hydrozoa). PNAS 95: 3673-3678.

 

Schmitz, O.J., J.L. Cohon, K.D. Rothley and A.P. Beckerman. 1998. Reconciling variability and optimal behavior using multiple criteria in optimality models. Evolutionary Ecology 12: 73-94.

 

Stadler, P. and G.P. Wagner. 1997. The algebraic theory of recombination spaces. Evolutionary Computation

 

Wagner, A., Dudgeon, S., J. R. Vaisnys, and L. W. Buss 1998. Non-linear oscillations in polyps of the colonial hydroid Podocoryne carnea. Naturwiss. 85:117

 

Kreft, J.-U., G. Booth and J. Wimpenny 1998. Bacsim, a simulator for individual-based modeling of bacterial colony growth. Microbiology (In Press)

 

Beard, K.H., N. Hengartner and D.K. Skelly. Predicting bird distributions using probabilistic models. Conservation Biology. (Submitted)

 

Luttbeg, B. and O.J. Schmitz. Dynamics of predator-prey models with flexible prey behavior and imperfect information. American Naturalist. (Submitted)

 

Schmitz O.J. From individuals to communities: identifying the dynamically-relevant organizational scales. Ecology. (Submitted)

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Sponsored Programs and Seminars

 

Seminar by O. Schmitz, CCE, at the Department of Zoology, University of Toronto

 

Seminar by D. Skelly, CCE, at the Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma

 

Seminar by D. Skelly, CCE, at the Division of Biological Science, University of Missouri

 

Seminar by D. Skelly, CCE, at the Mountain Lake Biological Station, University of Montana

 

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Honors and Awards

 

Oswald Schmitz, CCE - Yale University Library and ITS Grant: Using CourseWare to develop a self-directed, computational teaching environment for community ecology.

 

Oswald Schmitz, CCE - National Science Foundation (with T. Graedel and L. Bennet). Indeco: development of an individual-based simulator to model the evolution and dynamics of industrial ecosystems.

 

Gunter Wagner, CCE, NECUSE: Development of CourseWare, a software framework for developing and deploying custom science labs via the Web.

 

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International Seminars, Conferences

 

International Society for Behavioral Ecology, Monterey, CA (July 1998) attended by Oswald Schmitz, CCE

 

Ecological Society of America, Baltimore, MD (August 1998) attended by David Skelly, CCE

B. Center for Earth Observation

Ronald Smith, Director

Professor, Department of Geology and Geophysics

 

Publications

 

Kouhouchos, N., R.B. Smith, A. Gleason, P.S. Thenkabail, F. Hole, Y. Barkoudah, J. Albert, P. Gluhosky, and J. Foster. 1998. Monitoring the Distribution, Use, and Regeneration of Natural Resources in Semi-Arid South West Asia, To appear in Transformations of Middle Eastern Natural Environments, Proceedings of an International Conference held at Yale University 29-31 October, 1997, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Bulletin.

 

Kouhouchos, N. 1998. Landscape and Social Change in Late Prehistoric Mesopotamia, Doctoral dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University.

 

Pan, F. and R.B. Smith. 1998. Gap Winds and Wakes: SAR observations and

numerical solutions, Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 55.

 

Thenkabail, P.S. 1998. Characterization of the Alternative to Slash-and-Burn Benchmark Research area representing the Congolese rainforests of Africa using Near-Real-Time SPOT HRV Data, International Journal of Remote Sensing, Accepted for publication as Ref # RES120835.

 

Thenkabail, P.S. and R.B. Smith. 1998. Crop Growth and Yield Studies Using a 512-Band Spectrometer in the Semi-Arid Environments of Syria, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Geospatial Information in Agriculture.

 

Thenkabail, P.S., R.B. Smith, and E. DePauw. 1998. Hyperspectral Vegetation Indices for Determining Agricultural Crop Characteristics, Remote Sensing of the Environment, Submitted

 

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Visitors

 

Dr. K. D. Singh - FAO Forestry Department, United Nations. The purpose of this visit was to explore opportunities to develop land cover maps of South West Asia which could be integrated into existing global forest mapping efforts of the UN.

 

Eddy De Pauw - International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA). The purpose of this visit was to coordinate collaborative research in South West Asia between ICARDA and CEO.

 

Khaldoun Rishmawi - Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem. The purpose of this visit was to use the expertise and facilities of CEO to develop detailed vegetation classification maps of the West Bank. This will be used to assist in developing a water budget for the area.

 

Jack Mustard - Geology Department, Brown University. Professor Mustard and one of his students visited CEO to begin collaboration concerning the use of a statistical mixing model to determine the percent coverage of vegetation in arid region.

 

Ani Balikian - ICARDA. Ms. Balikian used the facilities and datasets at CEO to develop a large-scale vegetation analysis of the Middle East and Central Asia.

 

Jiaguo Qi - Michigan State University. Professor Qi visited us to begin collaboration using Bidirectional Reflectance data to analysis vegetation in arid regions

 

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Sponsored Programs and Seminars

 

October 1997 - Speakers from the Center for Earth Observation participated in the Yale Symposium on Changing Environments in the Middle East at Luce Hall.

 

November 1997 - Professor Ronald Smith presented results from the South West Asia Project to the NASA Workshop, Global Land Use/Land Cover Analysis, in Warrenton, Virginia.

 

April 1998 - Professor Ronald Smith lectured on Middle East climate and vegetation in Aleppo, Syria at the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA).