Part of the lag in the application of these ideas was the large amount of
computation required.
1.3.2 Development of Computers
The development and application of ecological models are tied to the
development of computers. Computer availability and flexibility enhanced
the usability of models. For example, Caswell (2001) notes that the lack
of computational speed hampered the adoption of the matrix models
introduced by Bernardelli (1941), Lewis (1942), and Leslie (1945). Instead
of those approaches, life-table methods developed at about the same
time (Birch 1948; Leslie and Park 1949) were more accessible and could
perform most analyses offered by matrix models without the use of
computers.
The history behind the development of computers goes back for several
centuries. The abacus is an ancient manual arithmetic device first used by
the Chinese to add, subtract, multiply, and divide and to calculate square
roots and cube roots. It consists of a frame with moveable counters. The first
mechanical calculating machine was invented in the 1600s. During the
1830s, the English mathematician Charles Babbage developed the idea of
a mechanical digital computer, but the existing technology was not
advanced enough to provide the precision parts needed, and Babbage was
not able to secure funding to develop the device.
In 1930, Vannevar Bush, an American electrical engineer, built the first
reliable analog computer. Many improvements were made during the next
decades, but it was John Van Neumann’s idea that programs could be coded
as numbers and stored in a computer’s memory that hailed the next major
advance. This idea was used in developing the first stored-program digital
computer built in 1949.
The invention of the transistor in 1947 and related solid-state devices in
the 1950s and 1960s helped produce faster and more reliable computers.
The first computers represented numerical data by analogous physical
magnitudes or electrical signals, whereas later models used binary digits.
The move from analog to digital computers increased the speed of computations. Subsequent miniaturization of computers was based on electronic advances in the 1960s and 1970s and led to the wider dissemination
of computers. The development of personal computers, the Internet, and
mass-storage devices led to a proliferation of hardware and software
capabilities that are now basic to many ecological models used for resource
management. Today, computers are available and related to almost all
aspects of business, communication, and education. In fact, children’s games
examine population dynamics in a mathematically sophisticated manner. A
continuing challenge, however, is to include the most up-to-date ecological
understanding and required complexity in models and to get those models
into the hands of resource managers.
1. Opportunities for Using Ecological Models for Resource Management
11
computation required.
1.3.2 Development of Computers
The development and application of ecological models are tied to the
development of computers. Computer availability and flexibility enhanced
the usability of models. For example, Caswell (2001) notes that the lack
of computational speed hampered the adoption of the matrix models
introduced by Bernardelli (1941), Lewis (1942), and Leslie (1945). Instead
of those approaches, life-table methods developed at about the same
time (Birch 1948; Leslie and Park 1949) were more accessible and could
perform most analyses offered by matrix models without the use of
computers.
The history behind the development of computers goes back for several
centuries. The abacus is an ancient manual arithmetic device first used by
the Chinese to add, subtract, multiply, and divide and to calculate square
roots and cube roots. It consists of a frame with moveable counters. The first
mechanical calculating machine was invented in the 1600s. During the
1830s, the English mathematician Charles Babbage developed the idea of
a mechanical digital computer, but the existing technology was not
advanced enough to provide the precision parts needed, and Babbage was
not able to secure funding to develop the device.
In 1930, Vannevar Bush, an American electrical engineer, built the first
reliable analog computer. Many improvements were made during the next
decades, but it was John Van Neumann’s idea that programs could be coded
as numbers and stored in a computer’s memory that hailed the next major
advance. This idea was used in developing the first stored-program digital
computer built in 1949.
The invention of the transistor in 1947 and related solid-state devices in
the 1950s and 1960s helped produce faster and more reliable computers.
The first computers represented numerical data by analogous physical
magnitudes or electrical signals, whereas later models used binary digits.
The move from analog to digital computers increased the speed of computations. Subsequent miniaturization of computers was based on electronic advances in the 1960s and 1970s and led to the wider dissemination
of computers. The development of personal computers, the Internet, and
mass-storage devices led to a proliferation of hardware and software
capabilities that are now basic to many ecological models used for resource
management. Today, computers are available and related to almost all
aspects of business, communication, and education. In fact, children’s games
examine population dynamics in a mathematically sophisticated manner. A
continuing challenge, however, is to include the most up-to-date ecological
understanding and required complexity in models and to get those models
into the hands of resource managers.
1. Opportunities for Using Ecological Models for Resource Management
11