Profile

Career

2009 -	Senior lecturer in mathematical ecology	Departments of Biology and Mathematics, University of York
2001 - 2008	Lecturer in mathematical ecology	Departments of Biology and Mathematics, University of York
1999 - 2000	Postdoc in population dynamics	Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Leeds
1997 - 1998	Postdoc in computer-aided learning	School of Mathematics, University of Leeds
1993 - 1997	PhD Applied Mathematics	School of Mathematics, University of Leeds
1989 - 1992	BSc Mathematics	University of Nottingham

Research

Overview

The living world is an uncertain place. We have an innate tendency to hope these random fluctuations will magically average out, letting us arrive at a simple deterministic understanding. I am interested in situations where this doesn’t work. I use simple mathematical models and clever collaborators, applying methods from dynamical systems and stochastic processes together with computer simulations.

Current interests include: individual-based models (IBMS) of growth, competition and foraging in marine and terrestrial systems; marine reserves and evolutionary fisheries management; evolution under uncertainty; plankton dynamics; terrestrial carbon dynamics in complex food webs; epidemiology; group movement; wind farms and dead birds; kitchen sinks.

Discoveries

Getting lucky can be better than being good.

Current projects

• Fisheries induced adaptive change (FishACE) (Funding body: EU Marie Curie Training Network)
• Stochastic differential equation models of plant growth and competition (Funding body: BBSRC)
• Individual-based models of stock assessment and fisheries management: quantifying the importance of space and uncertainty in ecosystem based approaches (Funding body: NERC Industrial CASE award with CEFAS Lowestoft)
• Levy processes and population dynamics (Funding body: EPSRC and CEFAS Lowestoft)
• End-to-end models for marine ecosystems and fisheries dynamics (Funding body: CEFAS Lowestoft)

Research group(s)

Status	Name	Project
Post doctoral fellow	Dr Mark Preston	Stochastic models of foraging and evolution in complex environments
Research student	Celina Wong	End-to-end models for marine ecosystems and fisheries dynamics
Research student	Chris West	Individual-based models of stock assessment and fisheries management: quantifying the importance of space and uncertainty in ecosystem based approaches (with Dr C. Dytham and Dr D. Righton (CEFAS))
Research student	Jenny Burrow	Levy processes and population dynamics applied to fish and fisheries (with Dr J. Horwood, CEFAS)
Research student	Simon Croft	Stochastic differential equation models of plant growth and competition (with Dr A. Hodge)
Research student	Simon Croft	Modelling bird flocks and collisions with wind turbines (with Dr A. J. Wood (York) and R. Budgey (FERA))

Available PhD research projects

Nonlinear and stochastic dynamics in marine ecosystems (for 2012 - 13)

This is a broad, and wonderful, subject area of great global importance. Project details will depend on the interests and skills and the candidate, and on links to other research within the group and with external collaborators. Methods may include theory from nonlinear dynamical systems, stochastic calculus, and statistics, with the ecological processes ranging from the growth and death of individual organisms to the structure and stability of complex ecosystems.

Publications

Selected publications

Preston, M.D., JWP, Wood, A.J. Evolutionary Optimality in Stochastic Search Problems. Journal of the Royal Society Interface (published online March 2010).

Gaal, B., JWP, Wood, A.J. Exact results for the evolution of stochastic switching in variable asymmetric environments. Genetics, 184, 2010, 1113-1119.

James, A., JWP, Plank, M.J. Efficient or Inaccurate? Analytical and Numerical Modelling of Random Search Strategies. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 72, 2010, 896-913.

Miethe, T., Dytham, C., Dieckmann, U., JWP. Marine reserves and the evolutionary effects of fishing on size at maturation. ICES Journal of Marine Science 67, 2010, 412-425.

DW Sims et al (2008) Scaling laws of marine predator search behaviour Nature 451: 1098-1103

Q Lv, JW Pitchford and MK Schneider (2008) Individualism in plant populations: Using stochastic differential equations to model individual neighbourhood-dependent plant growth Theoretical Population Biology (to appear) :

Q Lv, JW Pitchford, and MK Schneider (2009) Individualism in plant populations: Using stochastic differential equations to model individual neighbourhood-dependent plant growth Theoretical Population Biology (to appear) :

External activities

Memberships

• Invited member of NERC peer review 2009-2012