Resilience of Mangroves on the South Coast of Havana province, Cuba

Mangroves are important worldwide for a wide range of ecosystem services that contribute to human well-being (e.g., food and water consumption, recreation). However, 35% of documented mangrove vegetation disappeared in 1980-2005 mainly due to direct and indirect human impacts. Mangrove resilience typically manifests as regeneration of mangrove vegetation, either naturally or promoted by restoration. The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean region are representative of the worldwide mangrove situation. The thesis addresses five study cases in Cuba, Mexico and USA. The cases are examples illustrating mangrove resilience through natural regeneration and restoration activities. Changes in vegetation, ground altitude and inundation as well as institutional aspects of mangrove restoration are addressed. Mangroves and wetlands of the south coast of Havana province in Cuba were studied. Across these mangroves and wetlands, a road-like freshwater barrier was built during 1985-1991 to guarantee an adequate freshwater supply for agriculture and settlements, including Havana City. The barrier is 52 km long, and slows down the flow of freshwater into the sea by retaining water landward of the barrier. Besides achieving enhanced groundwater quality and quantity, the barrier caused mangrove dieback through flooding. The assessment of mangrove resilience took advantage of an empirically supported historical perspective. First, remote sensing using satellite images of 1985 and 2001 indicated major land-cover changes related to the construction of the barrier. Second, in plots representative of those changes, vegetation and abiotic factors (e.g., water level and soil redox potential) were surveyed in 2005. The land-cover changes were concentrated landward of the barrier, e.g., a decrease in wetland forests (from 4847 to 1206 ha; mainly plantations) and increase in flooded mangroves (from 11 to 1425 ha). The access provided by the road-like barrier promoted new seaward mangrove plantations (774 ha). As expected from the analyses of the satellite images, in both the dry and the rainy season in 2005, the mean water level was higher in dammed wetlands (16 and 43 cm) than in those located seaward of the barrier (-5 and 7 cm). Also, the landward wetlands had a more negative mean soil redox potential (seasonal extremes were -240 mV and -40 mV). In contrast, the major accumulations of water landward of the barrier (i.e., highest water levels) occurred in the two sectors with the highest number and density of spillways (10 and 14 spillways, and 0.6 and 0.8 spillways per km). Resilience of the mangrove cover to the barrier-induced flooding manifests as early recovery of mangrove vegetation (mangrove cover less than 60%, trees typically smaller than 4 m), and also as advanced recovery leading to a closed forest canopy (trees 4-11 m). Recovered vegetation can progressively enhance the change from permanent to seasonal flooding. The study shows that decreasing the water level towards non-permanent flooding can prevent the establishment of vegetation. Maintaining the spillways of the barrier, however, can enhance the recovery of mangroves. Management interventions are a promising way of supporting the restoration of mangrove covers. The study proposes a methodological approach, based on qualitative mathematical modelling (loop analysis), for improving the assessment and management of resilience of environmental systems. The approach is presented through empirical data obtained in Cuban mangroves.Resilienz der Mangroven an der Südküste der Havanna Provinz, Kuba Mangroven sind weltweit äußerst wichtig für eine Reihe von Ökosystem-Dienstleistungen, die zum menschlichen Wohlergehen beitragen (z.B. Ernährung, Wasserkonsum und Erholung). Dennoch verschwanden in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten weltweit 35% der Mangrovenvegetation, hauptsächlich durch direkte und indirekte menschliche Einwirkung. Resilienz von Mangroven zeigt sich in der Regeneration der Mangrovenvegetation, entweder durch natürliche Regeneration oder aber unterstützt durch Rekultivierungsmaßnahmen. Der Golf von Mexiko und die Karibik sind repräsentativ für den Zustand der Mangroven weltweit. Die Dissertation umfasst fünf Fallstudien in Kuba, Mexiko und den USA. Diese Studien zeigen Beispiele für Mangroven-Resilienz sowohl durch natürliche Regeneration als auch durch Rekultivierung. Änderungen in der Vegetation, der Topographie bzw. dem Ausmaß der Überschwemmungen sowie institutionelle Aspekte der Mangrovenrekultivierung werden untersucht. In der vorliegenden Studie werden insbesondere die Mangroven und Feuchtgebiete der Südküste der Havanna Provinz in Kuba betrachtet. In diesem Gebiet wurde zwischen 1985 und 1991 eine unterirdische Barriere errichtet, um die Versorgung von Landwirtschaft und Siedlungen, inklusive der Stadt Havanna, mit Frischwasser zu garantieren. Die Barriere ist 52 km lang und verlangsamt den Abfluss von Süßwasser ins Meer, indem sie das Wasser auf der landwärtigen Seite staut. Neben der Erhöhung der Grundwasserstands und der Verbesserung der Wasserqualität hat die Barriere aber auch das Mangrovensterben durch dauerhafte Überflutung verursacht. Die Beurteilung der Mangroven-Resilienz wird durch eine historische Betrachtung unterstützt. Mit Satellitenbildern aus den Jahren 1985 und 2001 können enorme Änderungen in der Vegetationsdecke nachgewiesen werden, die durch die Barriere verursacht wurden. 2005 wurden auf Parzellen, die diese Veränderungen zeigen, die Vegetation und abiotische Faktoren, wie z.B. der Wasserspiegel und das Redox-Potential des Bodens, untersucht. Die Änderungen in der Vegetationsdecke konzentrieren sich auf die landwärtige Seite der Barriere, z.B. nahmen die Feuchtgebietswälder von 4847 auf 1206 ha ab (vorwiegend Pflanzungen) und die überfluteten Mangroven von 11 auf 1425 ha zu. Durch die Barriere, auf der eine Straße verläuft, ist ein Zugang in das Gebiet entstanden, der zu neuen Mangrovenpflanzungen (774 ha) auf der dem Meer zugewandten Seite führte. Wie die Satellitenbilder zeigen, ist sowohl in der Trocken- als auch in der Regenzeit des Jahres 2005 der durchschnittliche Wasserspiegel in den aufgestauten Feuchtgebieten höher (16 und 43 cm) als in den seewärts gelegenen Gebieten (-5 und 7 cm). Darüber hinaus hatten die landwärts gelegenen Feuchtgebiete im Durchschnitt ein negativeres Redox-Potential des Bodens (die saisonalen Extrema lagen bei -240 mV und -40 mV). Die größten Wasseransammlungen (d.h. der höchste Wasserspiegel) auf der landwärtigen Seite der Barriere wurde in den zwei Sektoren mit der höchsten Anzahl und Dichte an Abflusskanälen festgestellt (10 und 14 Abflusskanäle; 0.6 und 0.8 Abflusskanäle per km). Die Resilienz der Mangrove in den durch die Barriere dauerhaft überfluteten Flächen zeigt sich in der Regeneration der Mangrovenvegetation binnen kurzer Zeit (Deckung 60%; Bäume Es wird eine qualitative mathematische Modellierung (loop anlysis) vorgeschlagen, mit der die Beurteilung und das Management der Resilienz von Ökosystemen verbessert werden kann. Der methodische Ansatz wird anhand von Daten illustriert, die in den kubanischen Mangrovengebieten erhoben wurden

Diversity, variability and persistence elements for a non-equilibrium theory of eco-evolutionary dynamics

Natural ecosystems persist in variable environments by virtue of a suite of traits that span from the individual to the community, and from the ecological to the evolutionary scenarios. How these internal characteristics operate to allow living beings to cope with the uncertainty present in their environments is the subject matter of quantitative theoretical ecology. Under the framework of structural realism, the present dissertation project has advocated for the strategy of mathematical modeling as a strategy of abstraction. The goal is to explore if a range of natural ecosystems display the features of complex systems, and evaluate whether these features provide insights into how they persist in their current environments, and how might they cope with changing environments in the future. A suite of inverse, linear and non-linear dynamical mathematical models, including non-equilibrium catastrophe models, and structured demographic approaches is applied to five case studies of natural systems fluctuating in the long-term in diverse scenarios: phytoplankton in the global ocean, a mixotrophic plankton food web in a marine coastal environment, a wintering waterfowl community in a major Mediterranean biodiversity hot-spot, a breeding colony of a keystone avian scavenger in a mountainous environment and the shorebird community inhabiting the coast of UK. In all case studies, there is strong evidence that ecosystems are able to closely track their common environment through several strategies. For example, in global phytoplankton communities, a latitudinal gradient in the positive impact of functional diversity on community stability counteracts the increasing environmental variability with latitude. Mixotrophy, by linking several feeding strategies in a food web, internally drives community dynamics to the edge of instability while maximizing network complexity. In contrast, an externally generated major perturbation, operating through planetary climatic disruptions, induce an abrupt regime shift between alternative stable states in the wintering waterfowl community. Overall, the natural systems studied are shown to posses features of complex systems: connectivity, autonomy, emergence, non-equilibrium, non-linearity, self-organization and coevolution. In rapidly changing environments, these features are hypothesized to allow natural system to robustly respond to stress and disturbances to a large extent. At the same time, future scenarios will be probably characterized by conditions never experienced before by the studied systems. How will they respond to them, is an open question. Based on the results of this dissertation, future research directions in theoretical quantitative ecology will likely benefit from non-autonomous dynamical system approaches, where model parameters are a function of time, and from the deeper exploration of global attractors and the non-equilibriumness of dynamical systems

The Primacy of Openness in Ecological Complexity Theory

Five principles are at the foundation of complex systems theory: emergence, openness, contingency, historicity, and indeterminacy. Of those five, the principle of emergence is easily the most prevalent. Simply put, emergence refers to the idea that some wholes cannot be properly accounted for by appealing to individual explanations of the parts that compose it. In ecological complexity theory, the principle of emergence is strongly associated with the self-organizing feedbacks that often identify the structural framework of ecosystems. Within the last half century, the intense focus on the principle of emergence has engendered the development of many conceptual distinctions that have importantly contributed to explanations of ecological patterns and ideas about environmental management and restoration. I argue, however, that ecological complexity theory has become somewhat stagnant and myopic in its devout commitment to the principle of emergence. This dissertation highlights the issue of ecological complexity theory’s overreliance on the principle of emergence by investigating the role of the principle of openness. I argue the reverse of what is typically maintained in the literature – the principle of openness possesses metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical primacy. By beginning with the principle of openness and working towards the use of the principle of emergence in explanations of ecological phenomena, I urge greater appreciation for an ecosystem’s complete causal narrative and a reconsideration of the formulation and carrying out of future management and restoration practices and policies

Ecological Dynamics of Vector-Borne Diseases in Changing Environments.

One of the major threats for the current functioning of the world we know is the uncertainty about the effects of global climate change. This dissertation aims to understand the effects of a changing environment on the ecological dynamics of vector-borne diseases, one of the major burdens for human populations worldwide. Vector-borne diseases are expected to be highly sensitive to the effects of climatic change, because of the natural history of both the vectors and parasites, which are highly sensitive to small changes in precipitation and temperature. This dissertation investigates several aspects of the effects of changing environments in vector-borne diseases: (i) The plausibility of early warning systems to predict the future dynamics of a disease based on its association to climatic forces, using a time series for cutaneous leishmaniasis cases from Costa Rica,1991-2001 (ii) The mechanisms regulating co-infections of malaria parasites in the island of Santo, Vanuatu, 1983-1997, and (iii) Abrupt dynamical changes in diseases along smoothly changing environments, temporally for malaria in the archipelago of Vanuatu,1983-1999, and spatio-temporally for cutaneous leishmaniasis in Costa Rica, 1996-2000. Methods involved a suite of qualitative and quantitative techniques in order to robustly assess the reliability of results. Frequency, time and time-frequency domain statistical techniques for time series analysis were used to study the association between disease dynamics and climate, time models predictive ability for early warning systems was tested with “out-of-fit” data. Signed digraph loop analyses and quantitative discrete time models were used to discern working hypothesis about parasite species co-infection regulation. Statistical techniques for breakpoints were used to study abrupt dynamical changes. In addition, spatial clustering techniques were used as guidance to establish transmission risk factors. Results show that early warning systems are feasible goals, that malaria parasites and their interactions seem to be regulated in a bottom-up fashion, and that abrupt changes on the sensitivity to the effects of climate change are dependent on the context of transmission. Finally, all the results confirm the importance of considering the whole environmental context in which vector-borne diseases are transmitted and the need for abstraction to understand and manage the underlying complexity.Ph.D.Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60719/1/lfchaves_1.pd

Plant-Wide Diagnosis: Cause-and-Effect Analysis Using Process Connectivity and Directionality Information

Production plants used in modern process industry must produce products that meet stringent environmental, quality and profitability constraints. In such integrated plants, non-linearity and strong process dynamic interactions among process units complicate root-cause diagnosis of plant-wide disturbances because disturbances may propagate to units at some distance away from the primary source of the upset. Similarly, implemented advanced process control strategies, backup and recovery systems, use of recycle streams and heat integration may hamper detection and diagnostic efforts. It is important to track down the root-cause of a plant-wide disturbance because once corrective action is taken at the source, secondary propagated effects can be quickly eliminated with minimum effort and reduced down time with the resultant positive impact on process efficiency, productivity and profitability. In order to diagnose the root-cause of disturbances that manifest plant-wide, it is crucial to incorporate and utilize knowledge about the overall process topology or interrelated physical structure of the plant, such as is contained in Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs). Traditionally, process control engineers have intuitively referred to the physical structure of the plant by visual inspection and manual tracing of fault propagation paths within the process structures, such as the process drawings on printed P&IDs, in order to make logical conclusions based on the results from data-driven analysis. This manual approach, however, is prone to various sources of errors and can quickly become complicated in real processes. The aim of this thesis, therefore, is to establish innovative techniques for the electronic capture and manipulation of process schematic information from large plants such as refineries in order to provide an automated means of diagnosing plant-wide performance problems. This report also describes the design and implementation of a computer application program that integrates: (i) process connectivity and directionality information from intelligent P&IDs (ii) results from data-driven cause-and-effect analysis of process measurements and (iii) process know-how to aid process control engineers and plant operators gain process insight. This work explored process intelligent P&IDs, created with AVEVA® P&ID, a Computer Aided Design (CAD) tool, and exported as an ISO 15926 compliant platform and vendor independent text-based XML description of the plant. The XML output was processed by a software tool developed in Microsoft® .NET environment in this research project to computationally generate connectivity matrix that shows plant items and their connections. The connectivity matrix produced can be exported to Excel® spreadsheet application as a basis for other application and has served as precursor to other research work. The final version of the developed software tool links statistical results of cause-and-effect analysis of process data with the connectivity matrix to simplify and gain insights into the cause and effect analysis using the connectivity information. Process knowhow and understanding is incorporated to generate logical conclusions. The thesis presents a case study in an atmospheric crude heating unit as an illustrative example to drive home key concepts and also describes an industrial case study involving refinery operations. In the industrial case study, in addition to confirming the root-cause candidate, the developed software tool was set the task to determine the physical sequence of fault propagation path within the plant. This was then compared with the hypothesis about disturbance propagation sequence generated by pure data-driven method. The results show a high degree of overlap which helps to validate statistical data-driven technique and easily identify any spurious results from the data-driven multivariable analysis. This significantly increase control engineers confidence in data-driven method being used for root-cause diagnosis. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the approach and presents ideas for further development of the methods

Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Dendritic Metacommunities

The present thesis deals with the understanding of the origins and the mechanisms of maintenance of biodiversity in natural landscapes, in particular by identifying key processes that define large-scale patterns of abundance and diversity. Biological communities often occur in spatially structured habitats where connectivity directly affects dispersal and metacommunity processes. Recent theoretical work suggests that dispersal constrained by the connectivity of specific habitat structures affects diversity patterns and species interactions. This is particularly relevant in dendritic networks epitomized by fluvial ecological corridors. This thesis addresses whether connectivity alone can explain observed features of biodiversity and selectively promote different components of community composition in river-like landscapes, such as local species richness or the among-community similarity. The relevance of this thesis lies in the major ecological challenges posed by the topic, and its fundamental importance to conservation biology. The studies pursued herein are also deemed relevant because of the influence of the spatial connectivity and dispersal on population dynamics and of the relevance of biodiversity to ecosystem functioning. Mechanisms of species coexistence were investigated with a blend of theoretical tools (broadly related to statistical mechanics and the theory of stochastic processes) and experimental work using laboratory microbial communities. The research tools ranged from aspects of modern coexistence theory in a local perspective to the recent concept of the metacommunity in spatial ecology, within a unified framework. The study of biodiversity in riverine ecosystems guided by observational data has been addressed by combining theoretical metacommunity models with laboratory experiments. The results are diverse. First, they show experimentally that connectivity per se shapes key components of biodiversity in metacommunities. Local dispersal in isotropic lattice landscapes homogenizes local species richness and leads to pronounced spatial persistence. By contrast, dispersal along dendritic landscapes leads to higher variability in local diversity and among-community composition. Although headwaters exhibit relatively lower species richness, they are crucial for the maintenance of regional biodiversity. By suitably arranging patch sizes within river-like networks the effect of local habitat capacity (i.e., the patch size) and dendritic connectivity on biodiversity can be experimentally disentangled in aquatic microcosm metacommunities. It is shown in this thesis that species coexistence and community assembly depend on intricate, non-trivial interactions of local community capacity and network positioning. Furthermore, an interaction of spatial arrangement of habitat capacity and dispersal along river-like networks also affects a key ecosystem descriptor, namely regional evenness. High regional evenness in community composition is found only in landscapes preserving geomorphological scaling properties of patch sizes. In riverine environments some of the rarer species sustained regionally more abundant populations and were better able to track their own niche requirements compared to landscapes with homogeneous patch size or landscapes with spatially uncorrelated patch size. All the experimental results were supported and extended by a theoretical analysis where the above mechanisms have been generalized. This thesis provides the first direct experimental evidence that spatially constrained dendritic connectivity is a key factor for community composition and population persistence in riverine landscapes. As such, this thesis assesses a longstanding issue in spatial community ecology. It offers unique insights into the ecological forces structuring natural communities in a key ecosytem, and demonstrates principles that can be further tested in theoretical metacommunity models possibly to be extended to real riverine ecosystems. Taken together, the analyses show how the structure of ecological networks interacts with the spatial environmental matrix in determining biodiversity patterns and the functioning of biological communities. The analyses also suggest that altering the natural linkage between dendritic connectivity and patch size strongly affects community properties at multiple scales. The first part of this thesis (chapters 2 and 3) addresses key aspects of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research where the combination of theory-guided experiments and theoretical investigations shows how a stochastic implementation of population dynamics proves fundamental for key community properties such as species persistence and community stability. The diversity-productivity and diversity-stability relationships are explored. Both experimental findings and the results of a stochastic model fitted to the experimental interaction matrix, suggest the emergence of strong stabilizing forces when species from different functional groups interact in the same environment, increasing species coexistence and community biomass production. The last part (chapter 6) provides a synthesis of this thesis work, in that it aims at unifying aspects from niche-theory, usually adopted in spatially implicit models, with those characteristic of a spatially explicit context from a typical real-life mountainous regions. It is dedicated to the possible explanation for a macroecological pattern routinely observed from organisms in different domains of life, that is, the mid-elevational peak in local species richness. Guided by empirical observations on diversity of macroinvertebrates in Swiss river basins, a theoretical ansatz is provided which is deemed to capture the essential geomorphological drivers and controls relating species-fitness to altitude. A set of overarching conclusions and perspectives for future research are discussed in the concluding chapter

Generic Dynamic Model for a Range of Thermal System Components

The simulation of a thermal system consists of a simulation of its components and their interactions. The advantages of thermal system simulations have been widely recognized. They can be used to explore the performance of a newly designed system, to identify whether the design meets the design criteria, to develop and test controls, and to optimize the system by minimizing the cost or power consumption, and maximizing the energy efficiency and/or capacity. Thermal system simulations can also be applied to existing systems to explore prospective modifications and improvements. Much research has been conducted on aspects of thermal system and component simulation, especially for steady-state simulation. Recently, transient simulations for systems and components have gained attention, since dynamic modeling assists the understanding of the operation of thermal systems and their controls. This research presents the development of a generic component model that allows users to easily create and customize any thermal component with a choice of working fluids and levels of complexity for either transient or steady-state simulation. The underlying challenge here is to design the code such that a single set of governing equations can be used to accurately describe the behavior of any component of interest. The inherent benefits to this approach are that maintenance of the code is greatly facilitated as compared to competing approaches, and that the software is internally consistent. This generic model features a user-friendly description of component geometry and operating conditions, interactive data input and output, and a robust component solver. The open literature pertaining to thermal component models, especially the components of vapor compression systems, is reviewed and commented on in this research. A theoretical evaluation of the problem formulation and solution methodology is conducted and discussed. A generic structure is proposed and developed to simulate thermal components by enabling and disabling a portion of the set of governing equations. In addition, a system solver is developed to solve a system composed of these components. The component/system model is validated with experimental data, and future work is outlined

Technology for large space systems: A bibliography with indexes (supplement 16)

This bibliography lists 673 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between July 1, 1986 and December 31, 1986. Its purpose is to provide helpful information to the researcher, manager, and designer in technology development and mission design according to system interactive analysis and design, structural and thermal analysis and design, structural concepts and control systems, electronics, advanced materials, assembly concepts, propulsion, and solar power satellite systems

Context Dependency of Community Dynamics: Predator-Prey Interactions Under Ecological Disturbances

Numerous studies have focused on the drivers of diversity and stability of communities, especially under global change. However, multi-dimensionality of ecosystems due to biotic components (e.g predation, competition and adaptive dynamics) and abiotic factors (e.g. disturbances, resource dynamics and their distinct attributes) cause context-dependent outcomes and challenge the predictions. There are still controversies around complex community dynamics under varying regimes, however, finding mechanistical explanations will illuminate the fate of multispecies assemblages. Using model microbial communities, consisting of bacterial prey and protist predator, combined with simulation modelling and advanced statistics, this thesis investigated the impact of imposed disturbances (i.e. increased dilution rates that simulate density-independent mortality as press or pulse disturbances) (i) on transient recovery dynamics of a simple microbial food web, and (ii) on bacterial abundance, diversity and community structure in the absence or presence of a protist predator. In addition, this thesis questioned the impacts of species interactions and rapid trait shifts, as a response to predation and competition, on the community dynamics and stability. Our results revealed that the predator suffered more from disturbances over longer time periods. Reduced predation pressure caused a transient phase of prey release during and even after disturbances. Recovery time depended on the strength and duration of disturbances, however, coupling to an alternative resource increased the chance of fast recovery and stabilized the communities. In multi-species prey communities, bacterial abundance, diversity, and community composition were more affected by predation than by the disturbances and resource dynamics. Predator abundance, on the other hand, was strongly affected by the type of disturbance imposed. Importantly, community attributes had differential sensitivities, as reflected by their different response and recovery dynamics. Prey community dynamics varied more temporally andwere less stable under predation stress, while prey diversity increased significantly. Predation rapidly induced anti-predation traits, which altered population dynamics of both prey and predator. More importantly, predator and the resistant prey, in turn, elevated the number of direct cause-effect relationships between the community members. Our findings are not limited to the studied system and can be used to understand the dynamic response and recovery potential of many natural predator-prey or host-pathogen systems. They can be used as a base for future studies to illuminate the debates on the future communities.:Summary Zusammenfassung 1 Scope and Outline 2 General Introduction 2.1 Context dependency of community dynamics 2.2 Ecological disturbances 2.2.1 Transient dynamics and stability 2.2.2 Catastrophic shifts 2.3 Species interactions and evolutionary dynamics under environmental change 2.3.1 Species interactions and coexistence 2.4 Eco-evolutionary dynamics 2.5 Community assembly mechanisms 2.6 Dealing with complexities 2.6.1 Microbial model systems as a tool in ecology 2.6.2 Correlation, causation and the future of predictions 2.7 Aims of this study 3 Community Dynamics under Disturbances 3.1 Transient recovery dynamics of a predator-prey system 4 Interactions of Community Drivers 4.1 Interactions between predation and disturbances shape prey communities 5 Species Interactions and Evolutionary Dynamics Shaping Communities 5.1 Summary 5.2 Introduction 5.2.1 Predator-Prey Dynamics and Community Stability 5.2.2 Causal inferences 5.3 Aim of the study 5.4 Methods 5.4.1 Organisms 5.4.2 Microcosm experiments and estimation of species abundances 5.4.3 Statistical analysis 5.5 Results 5.5.1 Community dynamics 5.5.2 Dynamics of prey diversity and community stability 5.5.3 Causal links between the species dynamics 5.6 Discussion 5.7 Synopsis 6 General Discussion 6.1 Communities under disturbances: Predator{ prey dynamics 6.2 Temporal species dynamics and community assembly Synthesis and Outlook 7.1 Increasing complexity of species interactions 7.2 Going further from causal links 7.3 Metacommunities References 8 Appendix 8.1 Declaration of the authorship 8.2 Author contributions of published articles 8.3 List of publications and conference contributions 8.4 Acknowledgments 8.5 Supplementary material for Chapter 3 8.6 Supplementary material for Chapter 4 8.7 Supplementary material for Chapter

Design Optimization of Wind Energy Conversion Systems with Applications

Modern and larger horizontal-axis wind turbines with power capacity reaching 15 MW and rotors of more than 235-meter diameter are under continuous development for the merit of minimizing the unit cost of energy production (total annual cost/annual energy produced). Such valuable advances in this competitive source of clean energy have made numerous research contributions in developing wind industry technologies worldwide. This book provides important information on the optimum design of wind energy conversion systems (WECS) with a comprehensive and self-contained handling of design fundamentals of wind turbines. Section I deals with optimal production of energy, multi-disciplinary optimization of wind turbines, aerodynamic and structural dynamic optimization and aeroelasticity of the rotating blades. Section II considers operational monitoring, reliability and optimal control of wind turbine components