W&M Featured Events
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William & Mary
[PAST EVENT] Ben Holman---Honors Thesis Defense
April 22, 2011
11am - 12pm
Abstract: Ecologists use Ricker patch models to study meta population dynamics for populations undergoing growth and dispersal in a patchy environment. We discuss a modified model in which patch-wise extinction thresholds are used to model local extinction events. Numerical simulations for certain parameters exhibit a decoupling of the system into small regions with periodic dynamics prior to extinction. To further analyze this high dimensional system we focus on computational homology as a tool for measuring spatial patterns as extinction occurs.