Nicolas Picard

Matrix models are widely used in biology to predict the temporal evolution of stage-structured populations. One issue related to matrix models that is often disregarded is the sampling variability. As the sample used to estimate the vital rates of the models are of finite size, a sampling error is attached to parameter estimation, which has in turn repercussions on all the predictions of the model. In this study, we address the question of building confidence bounds around the predictions of matrix models due to sampling variability. We focus on a density-dependent Usher model, the maximum likelihood estimator of parameters, and the predicted stationary stage vector. The asymptotic distribution of the stationary stage vector is specified, assuming that the parameters of the model remain in a set of the parameter space where the model admits one unique equilibrium point. Tests for density-dependence are also incidentally provided. The model is applied to a tropical rain forest in French Guiana

This chapter addresses the issue of zoopoetics and hunting practices in early twentieth-century French literature, focusing particularly on the way these literary practices narrate the human quest to capture animal lives. This quest is an anthropological path constituted by semiotic and hermeneutic processes that highlight man’s empathic and problematic relationship with animals. The chapter aims at deciphering the mystery that animals embody and shows how the gesture of predation governs the practices of writing and reading, determining the very structure of the narratives.