The LOOP GROUP
‘Loop Group’ was formed in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, but is now an electic,
informal association of Corvallis-area scientists, dedicated to the study of ecological systems
using qualitative mathematical models. We call ourselves the Loop Group because the type
of models we examine has been called loop analysis, although it is more formally known as
graph theory. We believe that qualitative models will stimulate ecosystem management
because reasonable descriptions of systems behavior can be attained without quantitative
parameterization. This means that good descriptive research can provide the basis for the
model of the community of interest. We believe that this is consonant with the principles of
Adaptive Management in that we can determine risk and uncertainty through extensive
simulation of partially specified systems. We can then conduct tests model predictions as
hypotheses (i.e., use management policy as an instrument of experimentation) and challenge
the system. It is not surprising then that we are also interested in Bayesian Engines. The
phrase is becoming hackneyed, but our approach is an elegant way to “learn by doing”. We
do not believe that qualitative modeling will replace quantitative models of population and
community dynamics; rather, we think that qualitative models will be valuable
complementary tools which will guide the direction of smaller, more focused quantitative
models. As such, our objectives have been three-fold:
-development of relevant mathematical theory and computer programs on the community
matrix
-application of theory in various fields, ranging from ecology, fisheries management, health,
business and military systems
-instruction and teaching of basic and advanced mathematical ecology
Members: We have been meeting on a weekly basis for approximately 3years. Regular
attendees over this period:
Hiram Li (F&W)
Philippe Rossignol (F&W)
Jane Jorgensen (Jambrosi, Inc)
Gonzalo Castillo (NMFS)
Hans Luh (Ent)
Jeff Dambacher (ODFW)
Selina Heppell (F&W)
Gabriela Montaño-Moctezuma (F&W)
Saud Al-Jufaili (F&W)
Michael Liu
Peter Bayley (F&W)
Judith Li (F&W)
Activities:
Two Modeling Workshops – Application Of Qualitative Modeling To Problems Of Ecosystem
Management. Sponsored by the Biological Resources Division of U.S.G.S., Andrews Forest,
OR. (March, and October 2001).
NATURAL RESOURCE SCIENTISTS FROM ACROSS THE UNITED STATES WERE INVITED TO
LEARN ABOUT QUALITATIVE MATHEMATICAL MODELING AND ITS APPLICATIONS.
LECTURES AND TUTORING OF 20 LECTURES WERE PRESENTED BY PHILIPPE ROSSIGNOL,
JEFF DAMBACHER, JANE JORGENSEN, HANS LUH, SELINA HEPPELL, GABRIELA
MONTAÑO-MOCTEZUMA, AND HIRAM LI
Teaching
ENT 591/691 Qualitative Modeling Course (since 1992). Currently: ENT 591/FW599
Essential Models in Ecology (instructors: McEvoy, Rossignol, Heppell, Luh)
ENT/MTH/FW 268 Mathematical Ideas for Biologists (L. Murphy & P. Rossignol)
Professional Meetings:
1997 International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, Taipei, Taiwan, August
ROSSIGNOL, A. M. and P. A. Rossignol: Qualitative analysis using a PC-based symbolic
processor
Society for Conservation Biology, Univ. Victoria, B.C.
Gresswell, R., H. W. Li and P. A. ROSSIGNOL: Assessing ecological risk of invasion in
Yellowstone Lake Northwest Mosquito and Vector Control Association, Kennewick,
WA, October
Entomological Society of America, Nashville, TN, December ROSSIGNOL, P. A. Sentinel
animals for arbovirus monitoring (invited presentation)
Conference: Quantitative Insect Ecology: Ecological Theory and Entomological
Empiricism.
ROSSIGNOL, P. A. Epidemiological theory and disease spread by arthropods
(Invited presentation)
ROSSIGNOL, P. A. and X. Li. On the use of sentinel animals
1998 American Fisheries Society Oregon Chapter, Sunriver, OR, February
CASTILLO, G., H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol. Neutral stability of a benthic community as
a buffer to biological invasions
DAMBACHER, J., G. Castillo, G. Montano, R. Gresswell, H. Li and P. A. Rossignol.
Qualitative modeling of fish communities: Applications toward ecosystem management
Annual Meeting of the North American Benthological Society, University of Prince
Edward Island, Canada, June
LI, H.W., G. Castillo, R. Gresswell, J. Dambacher and P. Rossignol. Risk analysis of
exotic invasions using qualitative mathematical analysis
16th Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium: Ecosystem Considerations in Fisheries
Management. Anchorage, Alaska. September-October
DAMBACHER, J., G. Castillo, G. Montaño-Moctezuma, H. Li and P. Rossignol.
Qualitative modeling of fish communities: Applications toward ecosystem management
1999 129th Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, Charlotte, NC
LI, H, W., J. Dambacher, R. Gresswell, D. A. Beauchamp, J. R. Ruzycki and P.
Rossignol. Stephen Forbes, risk analysis and pests in trout systems
J. M. DAMBACHER, H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol. Use of qualitative modeling to assess
and predict effects of harvest on multispecies communities
2000 The Truth is the Whole: A Symposium in Celebration of the Unity and Dynamic
Complexities of Life - Festschrift in Honor of the 70th Birthday of Richard Levins,
Cambridge, MA.
P. A. ROSSIGNOL and J. M. Dambacher Theoretical limits to qualitative and quatitative
analyses of communities (Invited presentation)
Tenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and
Trade. Session of Qualitative Models in Ecosystem Management and Research,
Corvallis, OR
P. A. ROSSIGNOL. Qualitative modeling: theory and practice (Invited presentation)
J.M. DAMBACHER. Qualitative modeling of multispecies fisheries: putting humans
into the equation (Session Chair)
H.W.LI. Cultural vs. ecological values governing natural resource management: lessons
from qualitative food webs (Invited presentation)
G. Montaño-Moctezuma. Reconstructing community interactions in sea urchin reserves.
2001 Oregon Chapters American Fisheries Society & The Wildlife Society – Joint Annual
Meeting, Portland, OR. DAMBACHER, J. M., H. Li and P. A. Rossignol. Historical
reconstruction, through qualitative modeling, of the effects of exotic fish introductions
in Tenmile Lakes, Oregon
CASTILLO, G., H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol.Distribution, trophic role, and community
impacts of introduced species in two Oregon estuaries
Risk Assessment for Invasive Species Workshop (EPA-Ecol. Soc. Amer.), Las Cruces, New
Mexico.
ROSSIGNOL, P. A. et al. Rethinking the diversity-stability paradox
2002 CIMRS-NMFS research meeting. Hatfield Marine Research Center, Newport, OR
P.A. ROSSIGNOL. The turnover matrix: A novel tool in community theory (Invited
presentation)
Degree programs: (get thesis titles)
M.Sc. (Ent)
Aaron Kimo Morris; graduated 1997 (advisor: P. A.
Rossignol): A Model of Trophic Evolutionary Pathways.
M.Sc. (Ent)
Israel Duran; graduated 1998 (advisor: P. A. Rossignol);
Stability and Complexity: A Reappraisal of the Competitive
Exclusion Principle
Ph. D. Pub. H.)
Jane Jorgensen graduated 1997 (advisor: A. M. Rossignol);
Strategic Modeling of Sustainable Food Supply Systems.
Ph.D. (F&W)
Gonzalo Castillo graduated 1999 (advisor: Hiram Li), Benthic
biological invasions in two temperate estuaries and their
effects on trophic relations of native fish and community
stability
Ph.D. (F&W)
Jeff Dambacher graduated 2001, (advisor: H. W. Li)
Qualitative Analysis of the Community Matrix.
Ph.D. (F&W)
Gabriela Montaño-Moctezuma; graduated 2002 (advisor: H.
W. Li) Sea Urchin-Kelp Forest Communities in marine
Reserves and Areas of Exploitation: Community Interactions,
Populations, and Metapopulations Analyses.
Ph.D. (F&W)
Saud Al-Jufaili (advisor: D. Sampson); expected 2002
Ph.D. (F&W)
Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta (advisor: Dan Edge) expected 2004
Collaborations:
Arkoosh (NMFS), Freedman (Pub Health), Shields (F&W), Donald Baltz (Louisiana State
University), Ed Chesney (Louisiana State University), Ken Rose (Louisiana State
University), Lou Bender (New Mexico State University), Phil Gipson (Kansas State
University), Ken Currens (Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission), James Parrish
(University of Hawaii), Milo Richmond (Cornell University), Peter Moyle (University of
California, Davis), Wayne Wurtsbaugh (Utah State University), Bill Matthews (University of
Oklahoma), Edie Williams Matthews (University of Oklahoma), Keith Guido (Kansas State
University), Tom Edwards (Utah State University)
Support:
Department of Defense-DARPA. Cyberecology. Information Extraction & Transport, Inc.
(J.Jorgensen: Prime contractor), P. A. Rossignol (Prime scientist) and H. Luh
(consultant). $1,600,000 (total costs) (April 2000-May 2002)
Hypoxia, nekton & habitat in the nGOM: modeling and retrospective analyses. Baltz, D.M.,
E.J. Chesney, H.W. Li and K.A. Rose .NOAA. Total project costs $198,499, OSU
$14,000 (Oct 1, 2001-7/31/03)
Qualitative Models to Predict the Impacts of Exotic Species on Native Anurans. Li, H.W. and
S. Heppell. USGS (Biological Resources Division) Amphibitan Monitoring Research
Initiative. Total Project Costs $43, 062 (Sept. 1, 2002-August 31, 2003.
NMFS. Sea Lions. S. Heppell & G. Montaño-Moctezuma.
Products: Powerplay, MAPLE
Publications:
Dambacher, J. M., H. W. Li, J. O. Wolff and P. A. Rossignol. 1999. A parsimonious
interpretation of the impact of food and predation on snowshoe hares. Oikos 84: 530-532
Dambacher, J. M., H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol. 1999. Historical reconstruction, through
qualitative modeling, of the effects of exotic fish introductions in Tenmile Lakes, Oregon.
Pp. 219-233 in ODFW and NMF. Management Implications of Co-occurring Native
and Introduced Fishes: Proceedings of the Workshop, Oct. 27-28, 1998, Portland, OR.
243 pp.
Li, H. W., P. A. Rossignol and G. Castillo. 1999. Risk analysis of species introduction:
Insights from qualitative modeling. Chapter 30, pp431-447. In Nonindigenous Freshwater
Organisms: Vectors, Biology, and Impacts. Claudi, R. and J. H. Leach (eds.). Lewis
Publishers, Boca Raton, FL.
Castillo, G., H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol. 2000. Absence of overall feedback in a benthic
estuarine community: A system potentially buffered from impacts of biological invasions.
Estuaries 23: 275-291
Jorgensen, J., A. M. Rossignol, C. J. Puccia, R. Levins and P. A. Rossignol. 2000. On the
variance of eigenvalues of the community matrix: Derivation and appraisal. Ecology 81:
2928-2931
Dambacher, J. M., P. A. Rossignol., H. W. Li and J. M. Emlen. 2001. Technical Comment:
Dam Breaching and Chinook Salmon Recovery. Science 291: 939a
Jorgensen, J., Rossignol, P., M. Takikawa and D. Upper. 2001. Cyberecology: Looking to
ecology for insights into information assurance. DARPA Information Survivability
Conference and Exposition; IEEE Computer Society, v. II. pp. 287-296
Dambacher. J. M. and P. A. Rossignol. 2001. The golden rule of complementary feedback.
ACM SIGSAM Bulletin (Special Interest Group in Symbolic & Algebraic Manipulation)
34: 1-9
Dambacher, J. M., H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol. 2002. Relevance of community structure in
assessing indeterminacy of ecological predictions. Ecology 83: 1372-1385
Dambacher, J. M., H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol. 2002. Matrix methods for qualitative
analysis of the community matrix. Ecological Archives E083-022-A1
Dambacher, J. M., H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol. 2002. Cramer’s rule and complementary
feedback. Ecological Archives E083-022-A2
Dambacher, J. M., H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol. 2002. Maple V program commands for
qualitative and symbolic analysis of the community matrix. Ecological Archives E083022-S1
Submitted and in progress:
Dambacher, J. M., H. W. Li and P. A. Rossignol. Limits of prediction in the theory and
practice of community ecology.
Submitted
Dambacher, J. M., R. Levins and P. A. Rossignol. Change in age structure in perturbed
communities. To be submitted
Arkoosh, M. R., Johnson, L., Rossignol, P. A. and T.K. Collier. Predicting press
perturbations on salmon To be submitted
communities: Implications for monitoring.
Rossignol, P. A., A. Guerry, J. F. Dambacher, S. Heppell, J. Jorgensen and H. W. Li.
Rethinking the diversity-stability paradox. To be sumitted