Xiaozhuo Han Meng Gao Cang Hui School of Applied Mathematics, Guangdong University of Technology, No.161, Yinglong Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510520, China Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264003, China Center for Invasion Biology, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Matieland 7602, South Africa Mathematical and Physical Biosciences, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Muizenberg 7945, South Africa Computational Ecology and Software ISSN 2220-721X http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/ces/online-version.asp 2015 5 4 271 275 International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Hong Kong 25 July 2015 3 August 2015 1 December 2015 pattern and process ecological models pattern recognition computer simulation In ecology, the patterns usually refer to all kinds of nonrandom spatial and temporal structures of ecosystems driving by multiple ecological processes. Pattern recognition is an important step to reveal the complicated relationship between ecological patterns and processes. To review and present some advances about ecological modeling, patterns recognition, and computer simulation, an international workshop on Mathematical and Numerical Ecology with the theme "Pattern recognition and simulation in ecology" was held in in October 2014 in Guangzhou, China, and the International Society of Computational Ecology was the co-sponsor. Eight peer-reviewed papers those were originally presented at this workshop covering three themes: patterns in phylogeny, patterns in communities and ecosystems, and spatial pattern analysis are included in this special issue. DOI 10.0000/issn-2220-721x-compuecol-2015-v5-0019 http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/ces/articles/2015-5(4)/pattern-recognition-and-simulation-in-ecology.pdf