Statistics and stochastic modelling
Statistics and stochastic modelling
This is a group of statisticians and specialists in theoretical biology. Members of the group interact with all other research groups by research collaboration as well as consultancy services. The overall specialty is stochastic modelling and statistical methodology covering a number of areas in evolution and ecology.
Who are we?
Steinar Engen. Professor of statistics at Department of Mathematical Sciences and deputy leader of CBD. Working on stochastic models in population dynamics and quantitative genetic with emphasis on age structure and spatial distributions.
Jarle Tufto. Professor of statistics at Department of Mathematical Sciences. Current research includes theoretical modelling of evolutionary responses to fluctuating selection, statistical models for estimating fluctuating selection and its evolutionary responses, spatial mark-recapture methods, and theoretical models of interbreeding between domesticated escapees and wild relatives.
Russell Lande. Professor of evolutionary biology with 40% position at CBD. He is a world leading expert in quantitative genetics and has considerable research experience in stochastic population dynamics.
Erik Blystad Solbu. Postdoc at CBD with phd in statistics. Has worked on trends and temporal changes in single populations as well as communities.
Ane Marlene Myhre. PhD student at CBD. Has worked with genetic drift and effective population sizes in fluctuating age-structured populations. Current research includes estimating effective population size in
Shelly Cao. Phd student, Department of Mathematical Sciences working on phenotypic evolution, state-space models, selection, and climate change.
PhD and Master projects
Current
- Yihan Cao (PhD): State-space models for estimating fluctuating selection, genetic evolution and plasticity from long-term time series data.
- Ane Marlene Myhre (PhD): Effective size of density dependent populations in fluctuating environments
Previous
- Kristin Mathilde Drahus (Master): A continuous-time, discrete-space statistical model for estimating dispersal rate applied to a population of House sparrows (Passer domesticus) in Northern Norway (Master in Statistics,
- Erik Blystad Solbu (PhD). Modelling and statistical analysis of demographic and environmental changes in poåpulations and communities (Phd in statistics, 2016).
Selected publications
Tufto, Jarle, 2017. Domestication and fitness in the wild: A multivariate view. Evolution 71:2262-2270
Myhre, A.M., Engen, S. and Sæther, B.-E. 2016. Effective size of density-dependent populations in fluctuating environments. Evolution 70, 2431–2446.
Chevin, L.-M., Visser, M.E. and Tufto, J. 2015. Estimating the variation, autocorrelation, and environmental sensitivity of phenotypic selection. Evolution 69, 2319-2332
Engen, S., Lande, R. & Sæther, B.-E. 2014. Evolutionary consequences of nonselective harvesting in density-dependent populations. American Naturalist 84, 714-726
Engen, S., Lande, R. and Sæther, B.-E. 2013. A quantitative genetic model of r- and K-selection in a fluctuating population. American Naturalist 181, 725-736
Engen, S., Solbu, E.B. and Sæther, B.-E. 2017. Neutral or non-neutral communities: temporal dynamics provide the answer. Oikos 126, 318-331.
Solbu, E.B., Engen, S. and Diserud, O.H. 2016. Characteristics of temporal changes in communities where dynamics differ between species. Theoretical Population Biology 111, 65–74.