Temporal and spatial variation in the dynamics of populations of birds and mammals: a search for some general mechanisms

I will provide a theoretical framework that allows us to estimate parameters that characterize the expected dynamics as well as the stochastic influences. I will analyse the relative contribution of different processes to temporal and spatial variation in the dynamics of some selected model systems that includes both birds and mammals. The overall conclusion is that stochastic influences caused by environmental and demographic stochasticity is in many cases the major driver of spatio-temporal variation in population fluctuations.