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Science 27 September 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5590, p. 2165
DOI: 10.1126/science.297.5590.2165q
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Henson et al. (Reports, 19 Oct. 2001, p. 602) used experimental evidence to illustrate that lattice effects, which can occur in both deterministic and stochastic systems, can dramatically alter the predictions of ecological models of population dynamics, most of which are continuous-state models. They concluded that "a complete understanding of some population systems will require a stochastic blending of both continuous-state and discrete-state models." Domokos and Scheuring comment that although lattice effects can dominate even in models with a very fine lattice size (i.e., for large habitat sizes in ecological models), there is nonetheless a minimal random noise level that will "destroy all lattice effects" and recover the dynamics of the continuous model. In a response, King et al. comment that although Domokos and Scheuring make interesting inferences, they are based on a model different from the original study model and "a noise structure that appears to be inappropriate for ecological systems."

The full text of these comments can be seen at www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/297/5590/2163a




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