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VERSION:2.0
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PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events
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SEQUENCE:0
UID:UW-Physics-Event-2079
DTSTART:20110125T180000Z
DURATION:PT1H0M0S
DTSTAMP:20260418T235649Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20110121T162418Z
LOCATION:4274 Chamberlin Hall
SUMMARY:Chaos in Easter Island Ecology\, Chaos & Complex Systems Semin
 ar\, Clint Sprott\, University of Wisconsin/Dept. of Physics/Plasma
DESCRIPTION:Easter Island in the South Pacific\, with an area the same
  as the city of Madison\, is one of the most remote inhabited spots in
  the world\, located over 2000 km from its nearest inhabited neighbor.
  As such\, it offers an opportunity to study a relatively simple ecolo
 gy with possible global implications. Its human population is thought 
 to have grown to a peak of about 10\,000 during the millenia leading u
 p to the year 1700\, and then to decline to a mere 110 by the year 187
 7. The usual explanation is that the inhabitants overconsumed the abun
 dant palm trees that were used for cooking\, housing\, fishing boats\,
  and for transporting the large stone statues for which the island is 
 famous\, leading to starvation\, war\, disease\, and possibly cannibal
 ism. In this talk\, I will describe some recent simple mathematical mo
 dels for the rise and fall of their civilization and will show that on
 e of these models has chaotic solutions\, not previously known.<br>
\n
 <br>
\nThis talk is available as a PowerPoint Presentation.<br>
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=2079
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