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

例如，平均而言，个体较多的昆虫、鸟类或植物种群的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。泰勒定律说，衡量种群规模变异性的统计指标--方差--随着平均人口规模的增加而线性增加。泰勒定律吸引了生态学、人口生物学、物理学、计算机科学和金融等领域的研究兴趣。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。种群大小的可变性是渔业、农业、林业和流行病学中的一个主要实际问题。更好地了解人口规模的时空变异性可以使所有这些地区的人们受益。该项目将通过与黑岩森林联盟和法国蒙彼利埃二世大学的合作，促进公共科学教育和从小学到博士后培训各级科学家的培训。

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.