Research Interests
My general interests range widely in spatial, theoretical, mathematical, computational and statistical ecology; plant community, ecosystem, and epidemic dynamics.
Spatial dynamics of competition: I
build theoretical models to study spatial pattern formation and its
effects on population and community dynamics in continuous landscapes
through the dynamics of spatial correlations. My work in the past has
been largely theoretical, working to gain a general understanding of
the mechanisms (competition-colonization tradeoffs, successional
niches, habitat association) that allow coexistence of plant species in
heterogeneous spatial settings. Now I am working on methods to estimate
correlations (and related spatial power spectra)
from empirical data and to estimate dispersal functions and other spatial interactions from
these data.
Disease dynamics in ecological communities:
I am generally interested in disease ecology (my Ph.D. dissertation was
on measles dynamics in England and Wales), and I have worked on several
other disease systems including a large collaborative project to
understand the dynamics of two pathogens, iridoviruses and chytrid
fungi, in a range of amphibian communities around the world (Costa
Rica, Arizona, Colorado, western Australia).
Statistical ecology: Many of my research projects focus on bringing
together ecological data (especially spatial data on animal movement or
plant distribution) with sophisticated modern approaches to parameter
estimation.
Representative Publications
Bolker, B.M., Okuyama, T., Bjorndal, K.A., and Bolten, A.B. 2007.
Incorporating multiple mixed stocks in mixed stock analysis:
'many-to-many' analyses. Molecular Ecology 16:685-695.
Seabloom, E., Bjørnstad, O., Bolker, B., and Reichman, O.J..
2005. The spatial signature of environmental heterogeneity, dispersal,
and competition in successional grasslands. Ecological Monographs 75:
199-214.
Levey, D.J., Bolker, B.M., Tewksbury, J.J., Sargent, S., and Haddad,
N.M. 2005. Effects of landscape corridors on seed dispersal by birds.
Science 309:146-148.
de Castro, F. and Bolker, B. 2005. Mechanisms of disease-induced
extinction. Ecology Letters 8:117-126.
Earn D.J.D, Rohani, P.M., Bolker, B.M., and Grenfell, B.T. 2000. A
simple model for complex dynamical transitions in epidemics. Science
287:667-670.