Plant-soil negative feedback (NF) is a well-established phenomenon that, by preventing the dominance of a single species, allows species coexistence and promotes the maintenance of biodiversity. At community scale, localized NF may cause... more
Plant-soil negative feedback (NF) is a well-established phenomenon that, by preventing the dominance of a single species, allows species coexistence and promotes the maintenance of biodiversity. At community scale, localized NF may cause the formation of exclusion zones under adult conspecifics leading to Janzen-Connell (JC) distribution. In this study, we explore the connection between adult density, either conspecifics or heterospecifics, on the probability of occurrence of JC distributions. Using an individual-based modelling approach, we simulated the formation of exclusion zones due to the build-up of NF in proximity of conspecific adult plants and assessed the frequency of JC distribution in relation to conspecifics and heterospecifics density ranging from isolated trees to closed forest stands. We found that JC recruitment distribution is very common in the case of an isolated tree when NF was strong and capable to form an exclusion zone under the parent tree. At very low NF ...
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The problem of integration of temporal models and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) involves theoretical and technical aspects. Many GIS applications are advertised in terms of their modeling capability but such modeling tools are... more
The problem of integration of temporal models and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) involves theoretical and technical aspects. Many GIS applications are advertised in terms of their modeling capability but such modeling tools are often unable to handle full integration of spatial and dynamic processes. This paper, however, presents new software, SimArc, able to interface a System Dynamics tool, Simile, and
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The process of vascular development in plants results in the formation of a specific array of bundles that run throughout the plant in a characteristic spatial arrangement. Although much is known about the genes involved in the... more
The process of vascular development in plants results in the formation of a specific array of bundles that run throughout the plant in a characteristic spatial arrangement. Although much is known about the genes involved in the specification of procambium, phloem and xylem, the dynamic processes and interactions that define the development of the radial arrangement of such tissues remain elusive. This study presents a spatially explicit reaction-diffusion model defining a set of logical and functional rules to simulate the differentiation of procambium, phloem and xylem and their spatial patterns, starting from a homogeneous group of undifferentiated cells. Simulation results showed that the model is capable of reproducing most vascular patterns observed in plants, from primitive and simple structures made up of a single strand of vascular bundles (protostele), to more complex and evolved structures, with separated vascular bundles arranged in an ordered pattern within the plant section (e.g. eustele). The results presented demonstrate, as a proof of concept, that a common genetic-molecular machinery can be the basis of different spatial patterns of plant vascular development. Moreover, the model has the potential to become a useful tool to test different hypotheses of genetic and molecular interactions involved in the specification of vascular tissues.
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Negli ultimi anni si è osservato un aumento significativo dell'applicazione di modelli individual-based in campo ecologico. Essi consentono di rappresentare esplicitamente il comportamento di un individuo rispetto alla dinamica delle... more
Negli ultimi anni si è osservato un aumento significativo dell'applicazione di modelli individual-based in campo ecologico. Essi consentono di rappresentare esplicitamente il comportamento di un individuo rispetto alla dinamica delle risorse. Tale approccio è efficace nel rappresentare processi in cui la complessità comportamentale e le interazioni che un individuo contrae con i con specifici e con le risorse giocano un ruolo importante. In questo lavoro si presenta un modelli individual-based per la simulazione del comportamento di foraggiamento di un predatore. Tale comportamento è stato correlato alle caratteristiche delle prede e dell'ambiente, al fine di valutare l'effetto di differenti strategie comportamentali sul budget energetico individuale. Mediante simulazioni abbiamo analizzato l'effetto delle caratteristiche delle prede (densità, comportamento antipredatorio, manipolabilità) sul successo di cattura e sul tempo investito dal predatore in un'area...
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Research Interests: Carbon Cycle, Multidisciplinary, Ecological Modelling, Plant Diversity, Tropical forest, and 11 moreNegative Feedback, Plant growth, Ecological, Species Richness, Riparian vegetation, Latitudinal Gradient, Biomass production, Positive Feedback, Environmental Conditions, Litter Decomposition, and Relative Abundance
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Individual-based model of plant communities Stefano Mazzoleni1, Francesco Giannino1, Mariana Amato2, Riccardo Gucci3, and Gerardo Toraldo4 1 Dip. di Arboricoltura, Botanica e Patologia Vegetale, University of Naples Federico II, Italy 2... more
Individual-based model of plant communities Stefano Mazzoleni1, Francesco Giannino1, Mariana Amato2, Riccardo Gucci3, and Gerardo Toraldo4 1 Dip. di Arboricoltura, Botanica e Patologia Vegetale, University of Naples Federico II, Italy 2 Dip. di Produzione Vegetale, University ...
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Recently, many efforts have been devoted to the implementation of web based learning tools, that have found widespread diffusion in high schools, graduate and undergraduate universities classes. They enable the fruition of educational... more
Recently, many efforts have been devoted to the implementation of web based learning tools, that have found widespread diffusion in high schools, graduate and undergraduate universities classes. They enable the fruition of educational materials through a web used user ...
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In the last years, there have been an increasing number of examples of applications of this hybrid modelling approach in various scientific disciplines: ecology [2], engineering [3], but also humanities science [4]. This line of research... more
In the last years, there have been an increasing number of examples of applications of this hybrid modelling approach in various scientific disciplines: ecology [2], engineering [3], but also humanities science [4]. This line of research has the big advantage of simulating complex systems as sets of different modules, which can be implemented in different mathematical approaches most appropriate to render the subsystem under consideration. On the other hand, agent-based hybrid modelling also comes with a reduction in analytical capabilities to understand model behavior, for it relies on distinct, apparently incompatible formalizations (algorithmic vs mathematical, discrete vs continuous time, etc).
Metabolic flux analysis (MFA) quantitatively describes cellular fluxes to understand metabolic phenotypes and functional behaviour after environmental and/or genetic perturbations.
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In this paper a semi-physical model for the vegetation burning in wildland fire is proposed. The model is developed with the final aim to simulate large scale wildland fires which spread on heterogeneous landscape. In a modular modelling... more
In this paper a semi-physical model for the vegetation burning in wildland fire is proposed. The model is developed with the final aim to simulate large scale wildland fires which spread on heterogeneous landscape. In a modular modelling approach, it can be seen as the cell model for a forest fire propagation tool to perform fast simulations for operational scope and fight fires interventions. It is constituted by a simple system of ordinary differential equations taking into account the main physico-chemical processes involved in the fire spreading while keeping the computation cost for simulations very low. Finally, the model is implemented in the modelling, at the intermediate scale (1 hectare), of the fire spreading in a homogeneous environment.
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Photosynthesis has been mainly studied under steady-state conditions even though this assumption results inadequate for assessing the biochemical responses to rapid variations occurring in natural environments. The combination of... more
Photosynthesis has been mainly studied under steady-state conditions even though this assumption results inadequate for assessing the biochemical responses to rapid variations occurring in natural environments. The combination of mathematical models with available data may enhance the understanding of the dynamic responses of plants to fluctuating environments and can be used to make predictions on how photosynthesis would respond to non-steady-state conditions. In this study, we present a leaf level System Dynamics photosynthesis model based and validated on an experiment performed on two soybean varieties, namely, the wild type Eiko and the chlorophyll-deficient mutant MinnGold, grown in constant and fluctuating light conditions. This mutant is known to have similar steady-state photosynthesis compared to the green wild type, but it is found to have less biomass at harvest. It has been hypothesized that this might be due to an unoptimized response to non-steady-state conditions; t...
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We used a Cellular Automata (CA) modeling framework to simulate the evolution of two small-size wildland fires that broke up in Sardinia, Italy in the summer of 2010. The CA model is based on our established detailed model that has been... more
We used a Cellular Automata (CA) modeling framework to simulate the evolution of two small-size wildland fires that broke up in Sardinia, Italy in the summer of 2010. The CA model is based on our established detailed model that has been shown to approximate adequately the evolution of large-scale wildfires in Greece. The modified simplified model takes into account the landscape characteristics, the distribution of flammability and detailed wind field data. Simulation results over an ensemble of lattice realizations show that the model captures qualitatively the actual data; however, significant quantitative differences between simulations and real patterns do exist for very small sizes of burned area. Comparing model results with data obtained from Greece, where simulations succeeded to approximate quite well the spatio-temporal evolution of the fires, we suggest that the obtained discrepancies are due to the small size of the fires.We used a Cellular Automata (CA) modeling framework to simulate the evolution of two small-size wildland fires that broke up in Sardinia, Italy in the summer of 2010. The CA model is based on our established detailed model that has been shown to approximate adequately the evolution of large-scale wildfires in Greece. The modified simplified model takes into account the landscape characteristics, the distribution of flammability and detailed wind field data. Simulation results over an ensemble of lattice realizations show that the model captures qualitatively the actual data; however, significant quantitative differences between simulations and real patterns do exist for very small sizes of burned area. Comparing model results with data obtained from Greece, where simulations succeeded to approximate quite well the spatio-temporal evolution of the fires, we suggest that the obtained discrepancies are due to the small size of the fires.
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We propose an adaptable learning system named SIRMM (searchable information repository of mathematical models), whose goal is to be a user friendly and easy to use educational environment, in which mathematics can be learned moving from... more
We propose an adaptable learning system named SIRMM (searchable information repository of mathematical models), whose goal is to be a user friendly and easy to use educational environment, in which mathematics can be learned moving from real world applications; on the other way around, SIRMM can allow to deal with technical disciplines such as chemistry, engineering or economics from the
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Vegetation is continuously changing in time and space. The changes may be autogenic, driven by the properties of the component plant species, or allogenic, driven by external factors. Allogenic change may be a result of gradual changes in... more
Vegetation is continuously changing in time and space. The changes may be autogenic, driven by the properties of the component plant species, or allogenic, driven by external factors. Allogenic change may be a result of gradual changes in the environment, but ...
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DNA is usually known as the molecule that carries the instructions necessary for cell functioning and genetic inheritance. A recent discovery reported a new functional role for extracellular DNA. After fragmentation, either by natural or... more
DNA is usually known as the molecule that carries the instructions necessary for cell functioning and genetic inheritance. A recent discovery reported a new functional role for extracellular DNA. After fragmentation, either by natural or artificial decomposition, small DNA molecules (between ∼50 and ∼2000 bp) exert a species specific inhibitory effect on individuals of the same species. Evidence shows that such effect occurs for a wide range of organisms, suggesting a general biological process. In this paper we explore the possible molecular mechanisms behind those findings and discuss the ecological implications, specifically those related to plant species coexistence.