Dissertation Research: Population Dynamics and Pattern Formation in Populations: Theoretical Models and Empirical Tests using Two Weedy Annual Species

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Population dynamics and pattern formation in plant populations: theoretical models and empirical tests using two weedy annual species. The spatial position of plants in a population can have important consequences for both the population dynamics and the types of patterns produced in plant populations. The development of a series of models that explicitly examine the spatial position effects in plant populations is proposed. The theoretical models will be calibrated using empirical data from individuals of two species of weedy annuals, Cardamine pennsylvanica and Oxalis corniculata, grown under controlled environmental conditions. Each species will be grown with different numbers of neighbors and with different spatial positions of neighbors to determine plants response to different local neighborhood conditions. This information will provide the parameters for the plant population models. In addition, long term population studies of each species will be established, using the above two species, under controlled environmental conditions to determine how well the theoretical models predict the behavior of populations growing under semi-natural conditions. This study will help link through modelling the short-term processes responsible for the behavior of individual plants and the long-term behavior of populations through time. In addition, this study should also provide a theoretical framework for determining what sorts of processes produce patterns within populations.