CoMSES Catalog

From spatially explicit ecological models to mean-field dynamics: The state of the art and perspectives

Authored by Jean-Christophe Poggiale, Andrew Morozov

Date Published: 2012

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecocom.2012.04.001

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

In this paper, we provide a brief review of the well-known methods of reducing spatially structured population models to mean-field models. First, we discuss the terminology of mean-field approximation which is used in the ecological modelling literature and show that the various existing interpretations of the mean-field concept can imply different meanings. Then we classify and compare various methods of reducing spatially explicit models to mean-field models: spatial moment approximation, aggregation techniques and the mean-field limit of IBMs. We emphasize the importance of spatial scales in the reduction of spatially explicit models and briefly consider the inverse problem of scaling up local ecological interactions from microscales to macroscales. Then we discuss the current challenges and limitations for construction of mean-field population models. We emphasize the need for developing mixed methods based on a combination of various reduction techniques to cope with the spatio-temporal complexity of real ecosystems including, processes taking place on multiple time and space scales. Finally, we argue that the construction of analytically tractable mean-field models is becoming a key issue to provide an insight into the major mechanisms of ecosystem functioning. We complete this review by introducing the contributions to the current special issue of Ecological Complexity. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

From spatially explicit ecological models to mean-field dynamics: The state of the art and perspectives

Abstract

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