NSF Award
1038337
Populations of insects, birds, or plants, for example, that have more individuals, on the average, frequently have more variability in the numbers of individuals over time, or from one place to another, or both. Taylor's law says that a statistical measure of the variability of population size, the variance, increases linearly with increasing average population size. Taylor's law has attracted intellectual interest in ecology, population biology, physics, computer science, and finance. This project aims to develop new theory and data to deepen the mathematical and biological understanding of Taylor's law.<br/><br/>Variability of the sizes of populations is a major practical concern in fisheries, agriculture, forestry, and epidemiology. Better understanding of spatial and temporal variability in population sizes can benefit people in all these areas. This project will contribute to public education in science and training of scientists at levels from primary school through post-doctoral training through collaborations with the Black Rock Forest Consortium and the University of Montpellier II, France.
