Another Country Heard From?

[Doug Donalson]

Hi,

   Switzerland, Germany, Scotland, and now Santa Barbara, California!  
Specifically,  the University of California at Santa Barbara.  My name is Doug 
Donalson and I am a Graduate student here in the Department of Ecology, 
Evolution, and Marine Biology.  I am part of a NSF sponsered program here in 
Spatial Ecology.  I didn't post this until I had actually gotten the SWARM apps 
running on
our system (which is Solaris 2.4)  I figured it was sort a right of passage to 
qualify as a Beta test site.  If you have the knowledge, creativity, and 
intestinal
fortitude to get the bloody thing installed then you have the right to use it.  
In my next message I'll write about a couple of things we had to do in order to 
get it to run on our system.

Anyway, my research, to this point, has focused on how assumptions implicit in 
different model types can effect results (as measured by persistence) in a 
simple predator-prey system as the system is scaled up in size.  The work has 
focused around a spatially-explicit individual-based model I developed called 
the Heuristic Acynchronous Discrete Event Simulation (HADES).  The model is 
different than the standard lattice model generally used in theoretical ecology 
because both space and time are treated as continious variables.  My next 
project is to try to see if I can compare a standard lattice model to HADES to 
see if there are any measurable effects from the lattice models quantization of 
time and space.  I am also looking to model a practical application either in a 
predator-prey or competition context where spaced is believed to play a major 
role in system interactions.  

My long term research goals are to develope large scale system simulations for 
parks and game reserves to help with mamagement decisions.  At present, I am 
working with Don DeAngelis and the ATLSS everglades modeling group.  We are 
developing an alligator object to be later included in the model and will be 
testing it on a GIS based lattice model.  Enter SWARM!  I also may develope my 
next version of HADES in SWARM.  Oh why didn't you guys use C++?  I have a 
wonderful development system for C/C++!!!  There, I got that out of my system.  
As a side note, prior to my enterence into ecology I was a project 
engineer/manager for an engineering group at Hughes Aircraft Company that 
developed flight simulation and test equipment for trhe F-14D Tomcat.  

I am amazed and excited at the wide diversity of research interests that are in 
this group.  I think that this will make the effort of getting "make" to look 
in the directories that the paths point to (almost?) worth while.

Doug Donalson ABD
Departmant of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Ecology
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California  93106

address@hidden

PS  To the Scottish group, yes, my machine is named after the small island
Jura, off the coast of Scotland.  My advisor comes from Strathclyde.