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NJIT Mathematical Biology Seminar

Note special date and time:
Monday, January 30, 2006, 11:30am-12:15pm
Cullimore Hall 611
New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Deja Vu Communities and Spatial Dynamics of Frontiers of Competing Plant Species

Kunj Patel and Jonathan Lansey

Department of Mathematical Sciences, NJIT, and
Federated Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers-Newark/NJIT

We investigated the borders between 15 different combinations of species and determined that sympatric species (species that originate from similar geographic areas) have borders with less overlap than those between allopatric species (species that originate from different areas). We used a grid transect method to assess aboveground interactions between 9 pairs of sympatric species and 6 pairs of allopatric species. Our experimental results were then matched to a general mathematical model, which reproduces the observations witnessed in the field. It is discussed how to utilize the model to make qualitative and quantitative predictions about the ecology between two competing plant species.