Biostatistics and Biology of Populations

Our group is interested in developing and applying quantitative methods in population biology. To better apprehend the temporal and spatial scales, we have adopted the adage « there is no population dynamics without models ». Modeling is relevant to address questions in population conservation and management (wolves, lynx, wild boars, cormorants, albatrosses, …) as well as in evolutionary biology to assess life-history trade-offs, quantify the response to selection or describe senescence patterns (gulls, flamingos, blue tits, …).

Our research is organized in 4 themes :

1 - Models for the estimation of demographic parameters (capture-recapture in the broad sense) with a particular focus in evolutionary ecology : Survival, Recruitment and population growth rate | Multi-site, multistate, state-space and hidden Markov models | Individual heterogeneity | Random effects and mixture models

2 - Models in population dynamics : Stochastic models of extinction | Spatial models | Evolution of dispersal | Evolutionary demography | Management of animal populations

3 - Biology of fragmented populations : Biology of the black-headed gulls population in the Forez basin (central France) | Spatialized recruitment | Habitat selection in heterogeneous and fluctuating environment

4 - Development of pieces of software for population dynamics : Workshops | Estimation and inference for demographic parameters | Accounting for uncertainties | Hidden Markov models | Download

Workshop MIHSU 2012