Understanding broad patterns of biodiversity requires developing a unified and rigorously tested theory that explains how species coexist despite the risk of competitive exclusion. Species interactions are fundamentally shaped by environmental variability. Recent theoretical development has predicted a set of general mechanisms that promote species coexistence under variable environments. Nevertheless, this theoretical framework has received limited empirical tests. Biological invasions offer excellent opportunities to empirically test coexistence mechanisms in communities in which the stability of coexistence is likely affected by introduced species. I took this opportunity to directly test the theory of species coexistence in this dissertation work by investigating how environmental variability affected the invasion of introduced species and their coexistence with native species. My collaborators and I started the investigation of diversity maintenance by first examining the range expansion of introduced species. Studying range shifts can reveal drivers of diversity patterns, which are formed by overlapping ranges of different species. We used a novel spatial analysis to determine the scale-dependent expansion rate of an invasive winter annual species, Brassica tournefortii over North America as well as to infer the drivers of this scale dependency. We found that this species expanded rapidly on scales from 5 to 500 km historically but had ceased its current expansion on the 100-500 km scales due to climatic constraints. This finding left open the question why this species continued its spread on the 5-50 km scales and how it would impact native species within its invaded range. To address these questions, we examined relatively local scale interactions between B. tournefortii and its competitors. We compared key demographic rates of B. tournefortii with other invasive and native winter annuals over a Sonoran Desert landscape to check conditions necessary for their spatial and temporal niche differentiation. We found the presence of two essential requirements for their niche differentiation: species-specific germination responses that could differentiate species by their favored environments and buffered population growth in time and space that could prevent catastrophic population declines when species faced unfavorable conditions. These conditions could provide niche opportunities to promote both the establishment of B. tournefortii and the persistence of native species under its presence. Building upon this finding, we directly quantified one general mechanism of spatial niche differentiation between B. tournefortii and its native competitors. We measured the strength of this mechanism, the spatial storage effect, across a hierarchy of spatial scales (subhabitat -> habitat -> landscape). We found that this mechanism did not promote species coexistence on any of these scales over the study period. These species were not differentiated over their tested spatial niches because weak competition following dry growing conditions failed to intensify intraspecific competition relative to interspecific competition. The strength of this mechanism increased from occasionally producing negative effects on lower scales to consistently being non-negative on the highest scale. This scale-dependent pattern was in line with the expectation that coexistence potential would increase with scales as species interacted over a wider range of environmental heterogeneity. Our findings demonstrated empirically that environmental variability in time and space led to scale-dependent patterns of the coexistence potential between introduced and native species. This work showed that introduced and native species could be differentiated by their environmental responses given spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity on higher scales. However, for those species to stably coexist on higher scales, competitive effects had to follow environmental responses to separate species by their own density-dependent feedback loops. This work is among the first few empirical tests of a body of theory that holds the promise to generalize the mechanisms of spatial and temporal niche differentiation. Its success and limitation can motivate more studies to adopt the guiding mathematical principles and to use similar yet more innovative approaches to address the grand question of biodiversity maintenance.

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) technologies have been comprehensively developed and deployed during recent years. Since commercial WLAN and WSN products share the same free of license frequency band, the low power, low rate ZigBee based WSNs are vulnerable to the interference from Wi-Fi WLANs. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the performance of ZigBee WSNs that are subjected to interference generated by collocated Wi-Fi WLANs and to design effective counter-measuring techniques should performance improvement is needed. In this research, a versatile testbed for conducting various experiments is established and the ZigBee system’s performance with different clear channel assessment (CCA) modes and energy detection (ED) thresholds are evaluated through extensive experimental measurements in the testbed. It can be concluded from the results that CCA has significant impact on ZigBee’s performance. An existing theoretical analysis approach that is based on the collision time model between ZigBee and Wi-Fi packets is suitably modified to provide analytical evaluation means of the cases we examined. In order to mitigate the interference from the collocated Wi-Fi system, a novel and effective interference-aware adaptive CCA (IAACCA) scheme is proposed and implemented as firmware flashed into Crossbow motes. Experiments confirmed the ability of IAACCA to countermeasure effectively interference generated by Wi-Fi and thus improve the performance of ZigBee WSNs. Finally, a thorough statistical analysis is performed to understand the factors impacting the performance of ZigBee system and is used to further verify our experimental methods.

Durante décadas, a visão prevalente em ecologia de microrganismos era de que os fatores ambientais locais seriam os únicos agentes estruturantes das comunidades e dos padrões de coexistência das espécies. Entretando, estudos recentes têm fornecido evidência de que processos ligados a dispersão possam ser tão importantes quanto o ambiente local na estruturação das comunidades, reacendendo o debate em torno da hipótese clássica sobre a ubiquidade dos microrganismos. Neste estudo, nós examinamos os padrões de coexistência do fitoplâncton e os possíveis determinantes da variação espacial na composição das comunidades em 9 lagoas do sul do Brasil. Nós testamos se as espécies fitoplanctônicas apresentam um padrão não aleatório de coexistência através de um modelo nulo e se distância espacial ou a distância ambiental possuem relação com a similaridade na composição das comunidades. Nós também investigamos se as variáveis ambientais locais são bons preditores da abundância das espécies. Na análise de coexistência, nós não observamos um padrão significativo de estruturação dentro das lagoas, mas encontramos um padrão não-aleatório e segregado das espécies ao longo das lagoas, indicando que as espécies coexistem menos do que o esperado ao acaso nesta escala. A similaridade na composição das comunidades mostrou correlação significativa com a distância ambiental, mas não foi correlacionada com a distância geográfica entre os sítios. Além disso, a variação na abundância das espécies apresentou correlação significativa com as variáveis ambientais locais (transparência da água, condutividade, nitrato e ortofosfato). Em conclusão, nossos resultados apoiam a visão de que a variação espacial do fitoplâncton é melhor explicada pelo ambiente local. Nós não testamos a influência de variáveis históricas e filogenéticas sobre esses padrões, que podem ser temas de estudos futuros, a fim de elucidar ainda mais essas questões. / For decades, the main hypothesis in microbial ecology was that local environment would be the only mechanism structuring communities and patterns of species coexistence. However, recent studies have provided evidence that processes related to dispersion can be as important as the local environment for shaping biological communities, stimulating new debates on the classical hypothesis about the ubiquity of microorganisms. In this study, we examined the phytoplankton coexistence patterns and possible determinants of spatial variation in community composition in 9 lakes of southern Brazil. First, we use a null model analysis for tested whether the phytoplankton species show a nonrandom pattern of coexistence. We also tested whether spatial distance or environmental distance act as potential factors controlling community composition. Finally, we investigated whether local environmental variables are good predictors of species abundance. We did not observe a significant pattern of coexistence species in the within-lakes analysis, but we found a nonrandom pattern of coexistence and segregation of species across-lakes analysis, indicating that the species coexist less than expected by chance on this scale. Phytoplankton community composition showed a strong positive correlation with the environmental distance but was not correlated with the geographical distance between sites. Moreover, the variation in the abundance of species showed significant correlation with local environmental variables (water transparency, conductivity, nitrate and orthophosphate). In conclusion, our results support the view that the spatial variation of phytoplankton is best explained by the local environmental conditions. We suggest that the influences of historical and phylogenetic variables on these patterns, here not measured, be analyzed in future studies, to further elucidate these questions.

abstract: As the demand for wireless systems increases exponentially, it has become necessary for different wireless modalities, like radar and communication systems, to share the available bandwidth. One approach to realize coexistence successfully is for each system to adopt a transmit waveform with a unique nonlinear time-varying phase function. At the receiver of the system of interest, the waveform received for process- ing may still suffer from low signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) due to the presence of the waveforms that are matched to the other coexisting systems. This thesis uses a time-frequency based approach to increase the SINR of a system by estimating the unique nonlinear instantaneous frequency (IF) of the waveform matched to the system. Specifically, the IF is estimated using the synchrosqueezing transform, a highly localized time-frequency representation that also enables reconstruction of individual waveform components. As the IF estimate is biased, modified versions of the transform are investigated to obtain estimators that are both unbiased and also matched to the unique nonlinear phase function of a given waveform. Simulations using transmit waveforms of coexisting wireless systems are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach using both biased and unbiased IF estimators. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2018

Though much is known of the global paleoclimate during the Neogene, little is understood about eastern North America at that time. During the Neogene the global paleoclimate was transitioning from the warm temperatures and higher levels of precipitation of the Paleogene to the cooler temperatures and lower levels of precipitation during the Pleistocene. Eleven fossil sites from Neogene eastern North America were analyzed using the Coexistence Approach: Pollack Farm, Brandon Lignite, Legler Lignite, Alum Bluff, Bryn Mawr, Big Creek on Sicily Island, Brandywine, Gray Fossil Site, Citronelle, Peace Creek, and Ohoopee River Dune Field. Analyses showed a general trend that early and middle Miocene sites were warmer than the area today, while middle and late Miocene sites were comparable to the area today, and Pliocene sites were comparable to or cooler than the area today. However, there is no clear trend of increased precipitation during the Neogene.

<p>This thesis describes the interference problem between IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth. These well established communication standards are often used together simultaneously. Since both standards operate in the ISM-band at 2.45 GHz, they interfere with each other. In addition to this, interference from e.g. microwave ovens, heating processes, electric motors and cordless phones also occurs on the ISM-band. Due to this interference problem, a model has been developed in MATLAB to further investigate these interferences and the effects for the user.</p><p>The interference is modelled using the well known Class-A model for impulsive noise. The interference model is parameterized in the model and therefore the noise source(s) is described by a set of parameters derived from real measurements. Models for IEEE 802.11 legacy/b and Bluetooth are based on work published on the user community of MATHWORKS. To get a measure of performance, results from the model are presented as BER (Bit Error Rates) and PER (Packet Error Rates). When Bluetooth is used as a voice link, sound quality can also be performance evaluated directly by simply listening to a voice output file. To be able to track down a specific problem cause, measuring tools have also been included in the model to gain insight into what is causing bit/packet error.</p><p>A model describing the interference problem has been developed describing the real world usage of the standards by the use of state machines. Due to the complexity of the problem, and also for the model to be user friendly, this thesis is not composed of a thorough mathematical derivation describing BER probability for different modulation forms. The derivations for these has already been done and is therefore summarized and compared to when the model is validated. The model has been developed as a proof of concept for further work to fully support the current and coming IEEE standards for IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth.</p>

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) technologies have been comprehensively developed and deployed during recent years. Since commercial WLAN and WSN products share the same free of license frequency band, the low power, low rate ZigBee based WSNs are vulnerable to the interference from Wi-Fi WLANs. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the performance of ZigBee WSNs that are subjected to interference generated by collocated Wi-Fi WLANs and to design effective counter-measuring techniques should performance improvement is needed. In this research, a versatile testbed for conducting various experiments is established and the ZigBee system’s performance with different clear channel assessment (CCA) modes and energy detection (ED) thresholds are evaluated through extensive experimental measurements in the testbed. It can be concluded from the results that CCA has significant impact on ZigBee’s performance. An existing theoretical analysis approach that is based on the collision time model between ZigBee and Wi-Fi packets is suitably modified to provide analytical evaluation means of the cases we examined. In order to mitigate the interference from the collocated Wi-Fi system, a novel and effective interference-aware adaptive CCA (IAACCA) scheme is proposed and implemented as firmware flashed into Crossbow motes. Experiments confirmed the ability of IAACCA to countermeasure effectively interference generated by Wi-Fi and thus improve the performance of ZigBee WSNs. Finally, a thorough statistical analysis is performed to understand the factors impacting the performance of ZigBee system and is used to further verify our experimental methods.

This is a summary report on some existing results and methods regarding the problem of determining the basins of attraction of dynamical systems (in particular, two-dimensional diffeomorphisms) when there is a coexistence of attractors. Based on the work of Helena Nusse and James Yorke, it presents existence and characterization results for a certain kind of basin boundaries (namely, the Wada boundaries). The key feature of their approach is to redefine the idea of a basin boundary by introducing the notion of a `basin cell', which bypasses the problem of exactly locating the attractor of a system, which is often either not well-defined or hard to locate in practice. Moreover, the basin cells and their boundaries are characterized by utilizing the stable and unstable manifolds of the system, which are easier to locate by numerical methods, and thus their method provides both numerically verifiable characteristics and algorithms for computation. / text

I studied the insect seed predator community on mesquite plants (Prosopis spp.) to investigate patterns of community composition in space and time, attempting to better understand the factors that led to the coexistence of many seed predator species on a single plant. This dissertation begins by testing the controversial species limits of Prosopis section Algarobía because hosts may act as environmental filters to insect seed predators. I found evidence for at least eight North American Prosopis species (section Algarobía). Second, I describe and add to the known natural history of 113 arthropod species among 315,174 individuals I collected from seedpod samples across the United States and Mexico. These samples included 187 trees from eight North American Prosopis species from section Algarobía and three from section Strombocarpa. Third, I examined reproductive timing in Prosopis and show that neighboring trees of the same species reproduce synchronously, whereas closely related species stagger reproduction. I found that photoperiod is the main cue that initiates flowering, but that multiple cues are involved. Thus, synchronous reproduction may act as an equalizing process that facilitates coexistence of seed predators in this system. Fourth, I tested for evidence of spatial and temporal niche partitioning among Prosopis seed predators. I found that the rank abundance of seed predators varies little over space and time, suggesting that this community exists in a homogeneous competitive environment. I also found that although a few species restrict the use of seeds to particular host plants or developmental stages of the pods, there is little evidence of niche partitioning. Finally, I looked for evidence of competition between seed predators and examined a number of factors that may allow for coexistence of these species. I found no evidence of interspecific competition or facilitation, suggesting that species somehow either avoid competition or that present patterns are the product of past competitive interactions. Natural enemies occur too sporadically to allow for apparent competition and I found no relationship between their occurrence or abundance and those of the seed predator species I studied. I found a positive correlation between rank abundance ability and fecundity, inconsistent with expectations of life-history or competitive-colonization trade-offs. Therefore, the only stabilizing process consistent with patterns found in this system is the niche regeneration hypothesis. I found that one seed predator species lays eggs most often away from both interspecific and intraspecific competitors, a pattern consistent with active avoidance as a second equalizing process within this system.

This thesis describes the interference problem between IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth. These well established communication standards are often used together simultaneously. Since both standards operate in the ISM-band at 2.45 GHz, they interfere with each other. In addition to this, interference from e.g. microwave ovens, heating processes, electric motors and cordless phones also occurs on the ISM-band. Due to this interference problem, a model has been developed in MATLAB to further investigate these interferences and the effects for the user. The interference is modelled using the well known Class-A model for impulsive noise. The interference model is parameterized in the model and therefore the noise source(s) is described by a set of parameters derived from real measurements. Models for IEEE 802.11 legacy/b and Bluetooth are based on work published on the user community of MATHWORKS. To get a measure of performance, results from the model are presented as BER (Bit Error Rates) and PER (Packet Error Rates). When Bluetooth is used as a voice link, sound quality can also be performance evaluated directly by simply listening to a voice output file. To be able to track down a specific problem cause, measuring tools have also been included in the model to gain insight into what is causing bit/packet error. A model describing the interference problem has been developed describing the real world usage of the standards by the use of state machines. Due to the complexity of the problem, and also for the model to be user friendly, this thesis is not composed of a thorough mathematical derivation describing BER probability for different modulation forms. The derivations for these has already been done and is therefore summarized and compared to when the model is validated. The model has been developed as a proof of concept for further work to fully support the current and coming IEEE standards for IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth.