Christopher X J. Jensen
Associate Professor, Pratt Institute

Preview of my ESA 2012 poster promoting the Evolution of Sustainable Use activity

Posted 31 Jul 2012 / 0

This year I am proud to be returning to the Ecological Society of America annual meeting in Portland, Oregon. I missed last year’s meeting and I am excited to be overwhelmed by all the amazing scholarship that is on display at these meetings. I generally present talks at meetings, but this year I decided to do Read More

A Major Post, Biodiversity Loss, Carrying Capacity, Conferences, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Ecological Modeling, Ecological Society of America, Ecology, Ecology Education, Economic sustainability, Economics, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Food, Group Selection, Marine Ecosystems, Population Growth, Population Pressure, Predation, Public Policy, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, System Stability, Teaching Tools, The Sustainable Use of Fisheries

Perhaps nestedness is just an artifact of ecological opportunity (and not stability)

Posted 27 Jun 2012 / 0

One of my chief interests is stability: I am curious about what allows for the persistence of genes, individuals, groups, species, and communities. This is a broad question and it may not have single, simple answer, but it is exciting to think that there may be ‘rules of stability’ in nature that might help us Read More

A Major Post, Articles, Coevolution, Ecological Modeling, Interactions, Mutualism, Mutualistic Networks, Pollination, System Stability

Steven Railsback and Volker Grimm offer new introduction to the process of agent- and individual-based modeling

Posted 27 Jan 2012 / 0

Princeton University Press “Agent-Based and Individual-Based Modeling: A Practical Introduction” by Steven Railsback and Volker Grimm

A Minor Post, Ecological Modeling, Individual-based Models, Spatially Explicit Modeling

Online tools for teaching the basics of population growth

Posted 08 Sep 2011 / 5

WARNING: Unfortunately, the applets that I discuss below (“Otherwise”) no longer meet Java security specifications. As a result, they won’t work on computers with the most updated version of Java. Please see the other tools listed in the Comments section below as alternatives. I am still searching for the perfect user-friendly package to teach about Read More

Carrying Capacity, Ecological Modeling, Educational Software and Apps, Lesson Ideas, MSCI-270, Ecology, Population Growth, Teaching Tools

If Only Game Designers Were Scientists

Posted 24 Jul 2011 / 1

Today’s New York Times Magazine featured an article entitled “Where Do Dwarf-Eating Carp Come From?”. The article describes the quirky aspirations of Tarn Adams, the programmer behind the underground computer game called Dwarf Fortress. Like other simulation-based games, Dwarf Fortress allows players to engineer a society (in this case made of dwarves) that faces adversity Read More

Computing, Ecological Modeling, Evolutionary Modeling, Individual-based Models, Modeling (General), Spatially Explicit Modeling, System Stability

ESA 2009 Day #3 (Tuesday) – “Big Models” Special Session

Posted 05 Aug 2009 / 0

During Tuesday evening of ESA’s meeting I attended a really great special session entitled “Big Models in Ecology: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly Are All Possible Outcomes”. Organized by Vince Gutschick, the session began with a series of overviews by Gutschick, Lou Gross, Lara Prihodko, and Matthew Potts. It then opened up for a Read More

A Major Post, Computing, Conferences, Ecological Modeling, Ecological Society of America, Individual-based Models, Mathematics, Talks & Seminars