Spatial Optimization in Ecological Applications

Whether discussing habitat placement for the northern spotted owl or black-tailed prairie dog or strategies for controlling exotic pests, this book explains how capturing ecological relationships across a landscape with pragmatic optimization models can be applied to real world problems. Using linear programming, Hof and Bevers show how it is possible for the researcher to include many thousands of choice variables and many thousands of constraints and still be quite confident of being able to solve the problem in hand with widely available software.

Whether discussing habitat placement for the northern spotted owl or black-tailed prairie dog or strategies for controlling exotic pests, this book explains how capturing ecological relationships across a landscape with pragmatic optimization models can be applied to real world problems. Using linear programming, Hof and Bevers show how it is possible for the researcher to include many thousands of choice variables and many thousands of constraints and still be quite confident of being able to solve the problem in hand with widely available software. The authors' emphasis is to preserve optimality and explore how much ecosystem function can be captured, stressing the solvability of large problems such as those in real world case studies.

John Hof is a project leader and Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. Michael Bevers is a Senior Research Scientist at the same institution. They are the authors of Spatial Optimization for Managed Ecosystems, also in the Complexity in Ecological Systems series.

Peter Deadman:
Readers without an extensive background in mathematics should not shy away from this book. The authors present the mathematical techniques outlined in each section clearly and in a way that is accessible to students, academics, or professionals... This is both an intriguing and thought provoking book, that will be of interest to ecologists, geographers, and resource managers with an interest in spatial analysis.