|Talks|

How does network reorganization impact the long-term persistence of ecological systems?

Visiting speaker
Past Talk
Serguei Saavedra
Assistant Professor, Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Engineering, MIT
May 20, 2016
4:00 pm
May 20, 2016
4:00 pm
In-person
4 Thomas More St
London E1W 1YW, UK
The Roux Institute
Room
100 Fore Street
Portland, ME 04101
Network Science Institute
2nd floor
Network Science Institute
11th floor
177 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Network Science Institute
2nd floor
Room
58 St Katharine's Way
London E1W 1LP, UK

Talk recording

Ecological networks are the synthesis of species interactions in an ecological system or community constrained within a particular area. Research has shown that the structure of these networks can modulate the tolerance of ecological systems to stochastic perturbations. However, empirical evidence has revealed that species interaction networks are constantly changing. These network reorganizations imply that the ability of ecological systems to resist future external disturbances is also changing. Then, can these network reorganizations be explained as a function of the long-term persistence of ecological systems? In this talk, I will show how new advances on the area of structural stability applied to ecological networks can provide answers to this question. In particular, I will present evidence of how seasonal network reorganizations can act as a homeostatic mechanism on the conditions compatible with the long-term persistence of ecological systems. This challenges work investigating the robustness of ecological systems assuming that networks are static.

About the speaker
Serguei is an Assistant Professor at MIT at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. A PhD graduate of Oxford University, Serguei’s work focuses on the persistence of ecological networks. For the past four years he worked at the Department of Integrative Ecology at Doñana Biological Station in Spain, at the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich.
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May 20, 2016