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/ Events

Predictive ecology: systems approaches

18 - 19 April 2011 09:00 - 17:00

 

Organised by Professor Matthew Evans, Professor Tim Benton and Professor Ken Norris.

Prediction is needed in ecology, not least because the world is changing and there is a demand for robust predictions about the ecological impact of these changes. Prediction is best when underpinned by process-based models, but complex ecological systems are problematic to model. We will explore different modelling approaches for ecological systems and the strengths and limitations of systems approaches.

Download the programme here (PDF).

The proceedings of this meeting have been published in a dedicated issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

Biographies and audio recordings are available below.

Organisers

  • Professor Matthew Evans, University of Exeter, UK

    Matthew Evans is Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus. Research interests are now in mainly in conservation and in particular in understanding how we can predict the impact of environmental change on the natural world. This represents a considerable shift from an early interest in mate choice and sexual selection, which included the first theoretical and empirical examinations of the aerodynamics of birds’ tails and the first experimental investigations of the effects of endocrine hormones on the immune system and on signalling traits. Matthew was a founder member of the School of Biosciences on Exeter’s Cornwall Campus and the Director of the Centre of Ecology and Conservation until 2007, and was Provost of the Campus until 2009. 

  • Professor Tim Benton, University of Leeds, UK

    Professor Benton’s core research interests are in understanding how ecological systems respond to environmental change. Much of his work has revolved around in-depth understanding of how variation in the environment propagates through changes in individuals life-histories into changes in population and evolutionary dynamics. This has involved various types of modelling inspired by (and fitted to) empirical data generated by an empirical model system: a soil mite cultured in the laboratory. Ideas generated from this understanding have increasingly been transported to other systems, and most notably, Professor Benton has been involved in much research on understanding how the agricultural landscapes impact upon biodiversity and ecosystem services. The increasing pressure on food production systems, and therefore ecology, has driven a major interest in global food security and predicting how we can both produce food and conserve ecosystem services is a very active area for him. Professor Benton is currently Pro-Dean for Research in Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds and also the lead of the Africa College Partnership whose work is to aid the development of sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. 

  • Professor Ken Norris, University of Reading, UK

    Ken Norris is Professor of Agro-ecology and Director of the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research (CAER) at the University of Reading. He works on biodiversity and ecosystem services in a changing environment, particularly in relation to changes in land-use and management. His work focuses on developing novel approaches to assessing the biodiversity impacts of environmental change, assessing the functional role of biodiversity in agro-ecosystems and linking these functions to the values and benefits people experience. He also leads NERC’s Biodiversity Theme.