In the past half century, the key role of chance in environmental dynamics has been progressively recognized in most biological fields from molecular biology to ecology and evolution. Our work on stochastic processes encompass theoretical studies in probability theory (Bansaye, Pardo & Smadi 2013, Smadi & Vatutin 2016), simulation-based analyses of individual-based models (Jabot 2010, Jabot & Bascompte 2012), and applications in ecology and evolution (Coron et al. 2018, Jabot & Chave 2009). This work benefits from modern methods of computational statistics and is diffused to the research community thanks to computer software.

Key contributed papers:

– Bansaye, V., Pardo, J. C. & Smadi, C. (2013). On the extinction of continuous state branching processes with catastrophes. Electronic Journal of Probability, 18.

– Coron, C., Costa, M., Leman, H., & Smadi, C. (2018). A stochastic model for speciation by mating preferences. Journal of mathematical biology, 76(6), 1421-1463.

– Jabot, F. (2010). A stochastic dispersal-limited trait-based model of community dynamics. Journal of theoretical biology, 262(4), 650-661.

– Jabot, F., & Bascompte, J. (2012). Bitrophic interactions shape biodiversity in space. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(12), 4521-4526.

– Jabot, F., & Chave, J. (2009). Inferring the parameters of the neutral theory of biodiversity using phylogenetic information and implications for tropical forests. Ecology letters, 12(3), 239-248.

– Smadi, C., & Vatutin, V. A. (2016). Reduced two-type decomposable critical branching processes with possibly infinite variance. Markov Processes and Related Fields, 21(2): 311-358, 2016