STOCHASTIC SPATIAL MODELS - A USERS GUIDE TO ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS

Spatial pattern, how it arises and how it is maintained, are central f oci for ecological theory. In recent years, some attention has shifted from continuum models to spatially discrete analogues, which allow ea sy treatment of local stochastic effects and of non-local spatial infl uences. Many of these fall within the area of mathematics known as 'in teracting particle systems', which provides a body of results that fac ilitate the interpretation of the suite of simulation models that have been considered, and point towards future analyses. In this paper we review the basic mathematical literature. Three influential examples f rom the ecological literature are considered and placed within the gen eral framework, which is shown to be a powerful one for the study of s patial ecological interactions.