Movement ecology: analysis and modelization from statistical physics
by Frederic Bartumeus(1), Daniel Campos(2) and Vicenç Mendez(2)
(1) Department of Continental Ecology, CEAB-CSIC,
C/ d'accés a la Cala St. Francesc, 14
Blanes - Girona - 17300 (ESPAÑA)
(2) Department of Physics, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona
Summary:
Movement ecology embraces the study of the causes and consequences of movement of organisms, providing a link between individual behavior and spatial processes at population and community levels. Then, it provides a promising and challenging area of research where ideas from both statistical mechanics (stochastic movement) and complexity (information flows, backward causation, etc) can be applied. Besides, the new tracking technologies (e.g. GPS) have made that trajectories of biological organisms have become nowadays available at unprecedented temporal and spatial scales, attracting the interest of a large range of multidisciplinary scientists.
In this course we will provide an overview of this field and will illustrate its future potential by (i) reviewing some of the main areas of theoretical research in the field, and (ii) working out some particular examples of interest (analysis of microorganism trajectories, organization of ant colonies,…).
