The assembly and dynamics of ecological systems in an ever-changing world

oscar godoy

Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain

oscar.godoy@ebd.csic.es

Link to seminar:

Biotic interactions play a fundamental role in the maintenance of ecological communities and how species face ongoing environmental changes. However, it is not trivial how to combine information of species interactions obtained from empirical work with theory that inform about the drivers of assembly and dynamics of ecological systems. In this seminar, I will first explain latest advances in theory of community ecology based on the field of structural stability. I will then showcase with three different empirical and observational studies how such advances can be plugged into the ecological complexity we observe in nature where plant species compete for common resources, and establish interactions with mutualistic partners while simultaneously suffer from natural enemies. Each of these examples will show the role of species traits, environmental variation, and stochasticity in driving the emergent properties we observe in ecological networks. Finally, this combination of theory, statistical modelling, and data will open to door to discuss how we can combine the integration of ecological dynamics within communities with evolutionary dynamics within species.

Watch previous seminars on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrX4IsZ8WIFcDa0ZmC7rcQg