Scaling of Variability in Populations, Individuals, and Ecosystems: Taylor's Law and Beyond

人口、个体和生态系统变异性的标度：泰勒定律及其他定律

• 批准号: 1038337
• 负责人: Joel Cohen
• 金额: $ 64万
• 依托单位: Rockefeller University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-15 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1038337&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Scaling; Variability; Populations; Individuals; Ecosystems

Populations of insects, birds, or plants, for example, that have more individuals, on the average, frequently have more variability in the numbers of individuals over time, or from one place to another, or both. Taylor's law says that a statistical measure of the variability of population size, the variance, increases linearly with increasing average population size. Taylor's law has attracted intellectual interest in ecology, population biology, physics, computer science, and finance. This project aims to develop new theory and data to deepen the mathematical and biological understanding of Taylor's law.Variability of the sizes of populations is a major practical concern in fisheries, agriculture, forestry, and epidemiology. Better understanding of spatial and temporal variability in population sizes can benefit people in all these areas. This project will contribute to public education in science and training of scientists at levels from primary school through post-doctoral training through collaborations with the Black Rock Forest Consortium and the University of Montpellier II, France.

例如，昆虫、鸟类或植物的种群，平均而言，个体数量越多，个体数量随着时间的推移或从一个地方到另一个地方，或两者兼而有之，往往具有更大的变异性。泰勒定律表明，种群规模变异性的统计度量，即方差，随着平均种群规模的增加而线性增加。泰勒定律吸引了生态学、种群生物学、物理学、计算机科学和金融学的知识分子的兴趣。该项目旨在开发新的理论和数据，以加深对泰勒定律的数学和生物学理解。种群规模的可变性是渔业，农业，林业和流行病学的主要实际问题。更好地了解人口规模的空间和时间变异性可以使所有这些领域的人们受益。该项目将通过与黑岩森林联合会和法国蒙彼利埃第二大学的合作，促进公众科学教育和从小学到博士后培训的科学家培训。