Measuring Stability and Systemic Crises in Ecological Networks
The resistance and resilience of ecosystems to global change depend on the structure of natural communities, which controls the delivery of ecosystem functions. Biodiversity scientists are asking questions such as: how can we measure stability in ecosystems? Are there early signals of systemic crisis in ecosystems? Can we detect tipping points through which ecosystems fall into degraded states? Do ecological networks rewire in response to perturbations and, if so, what are the implications for ecosystem functioning? Dr. Tancredi Caruso, of UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, discusses how statistical physics can help biodiversity scientists answering these questions. Using examples of studies investigating ecological networks such as soil food webs and mutualistic bipartite networks (e.g., plants-pollinators), Dr. Caruso illustrates the current research frontiers and opportunities offered by the integration of ecology with the statistical physics of networks.
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