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Computational convenience has led to widespread use of Bayesian inference with vague or flat priors to analyze state-space models in ecology. Vague priors are claimed to be objective and to let the data speak. Neither of these claims is…
The usefulness of Bayesian models for density and cluster estimation is well established across multiple literatures. However, there is still a known tension between the use of simpler, more interpretable models and more flexible, complex…
We derive ensembles of decision trees through a nonparametric Bayesian model, allowing us to view random forests as samples from a posterior distribution. This insight provides large gains in interpretability, and motivates a class of…
Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo explores tree space slowly, in part because it frequently returns to the same tree topology. An alternative strategy would be to explore tree space systematically, and never return to the same topology. In…
Model uncertainty and limited data are fundamental challenges to robust management of human intervention in a natural system. These challenges are acutely highlighted by concerns that many ecological systems may contain tipping points, such…
The Galton-Watson process is a model for population growth which assumes that individuals reproduce independently according to the same offspring distribution. Inference usually focuses on the offspring average as it allows to classify the…
We introduce a new predator-prey model by replacing the growth and predation constant by a square matrix, and the population density as a population vector. The classical Lotka-Volterra model describes a population that either modulates or…
Ecological patterns arise from the interplay of many different processes, and yet the emergence of consistent phenomena across a diverse range of ecological systems suggests that many patterns may in part be determined by statistical or…
Starting with the neo-Bayesian revival of the 1950s, many statisticians argued that it was inappropriate to use Bayesian methods, and in particular subjective Bayesian methods in governmental and public policy settings because of their…
This paper introduces a hierarchical framework to incorporate Hellinger distance methods into Bayesian analysis. We propose to modify a prior over non-parametric densities with the exponential of twice the Hellinger distance between a…
We outline a model and algorithm to perform inference on the palaeoclimate and palaeoclimate volatility from pollen proxy data. We use a novel multivariate non-linear non-Gaussian state space model consisting of an observation equation…
Predicting competitive outcomes typically requires fitting dynamical models to data, from which interaction strengths and coexistence indicators such as invasion criteria can be produced. Methods that allow to propagate parameter…
Phylodynamics is an area of population genetics that uses genetic sequence data to estimate past population dynamics. Modern state-of-the-art Bayesian nonparametric methods for recovering population size trajectories of unknown form use…
Foraging is a fundamental behavior as animals' search for food is crucial for their survival. Patch leaving is a canonical foraging behavior, but classic theoretical conceptions of patch leaving decisions lack some key naturalistic details.…
We consider the problem of boundary detection for areal data, focusing on situations where for each areal unit multiple observations are available. We propose a Bayesian nonparametric mixture model for the area-specific population…
Mathematical models support inference and forecasting in ecology and epidemiology, but results depend on the estimation framework. We compare Bayesian and Frequentist approaches across three biological models using four datasets:…
Recently, S. Arlot and R. Genuer have shown that a model of random forests outperforms its single-tree counterpart in the estimation of $\alpha-$H\"older functions, $\alpha\leq2$. This backs up the idea that ensembles of tree estimators are…
Recently we have introduced a simplified model of ecosystem assembly (Capitan et al., 2009) for which we are able to map out all assembly pathways generated by external invasions in an exact manner. In this paper we provide a deeper…
Bayesian nonparametric methods are a popular choice for analysing survival data due to their ability to flexibly model the distribution of survival times. These methods typically employ a nonparametric prior on the survival function that is…
Predicting the outcomes of species invasions is a central goal of ecology, a task made especially challenging due to ecological feedbacks. To address this, we develop a general theory of ecological invasions applicable to a wide variety of…