ISSN:
1573-1324
Quelle:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Thema:
Informatik
,
Allgemeine Naturwissenschaft
Notizen:
Abstract A model is developed to investigate starfish and coral dynamics at the macro-scale of the whole Great Barrier Reef. This stochastic near-equilibrium theory is consistent with all available data for the mean rates of change of reef-state relative to abundances of the starfishAcanthaster planci and the scleractinian corals upon which it preys. This result is in striking contrast to the stably cyclic behaviour which dominates the meso-scale of individual reefs as reported previously by the authors. For the first time, a number of important numerical estimates have been made and are reported here. Generally, the starfish dynamics is dominated by randomness, being indistinguishable from Brownian motion in the state-space. On the other hand, the coral process is embedded in a drift field which is always directed towards the low coral state. In fact, the high coral state is inaccessible on the Great Barrier Reef.
Materialart:
Digitale Medien
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02228974
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