QEIB: Spatial Ecologies Under Temporal Variation

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An increased understanding of processes allowing one species to "invade" the area occupied by another will help answer fundamental questions in ecology. Just as importantly, a predictive understanding of biological invasion should increase our capacity to respond effectively to alien species that increasingly impose economic problems on agriculture and threaten native biodiversity across North America. Ecologists recognize that biological invasion often depends on the way invaders are initially clustered, but most available models poorly approximate consequences of these spatial patterns. Our research applies nucleation theory, developed in physics, to the invader-clustering problem. Physicists originally developed nucleation theory to explain a variety of process, such as crystallization in solids, the formation of snowflakes or hailstones in the atmosphere, and growth of magnetic domains in certain materials. Each such process begins with one or more small "nuclei," which may disappear or grow, depending on the environment in which they form. We apply the theory to predict when spatial clusters of an invading biological species will disappear, or when clusters will grow, combine and alter the native ecological community. Conducting the research will further allow us to introduce questions in biology to physics students, and to train biology students in quantitative methods.