Next Lecture: 4 June 2025
Event Information
- Date: 4 June
- Time: 7:00 a.m. EDT | 11:00 a.m. UTC | 9:00 p.m. AEST
- Title: "Making sense of species and their interactions in ecosystems using Diversity-Interactions modelling"
- Presenter: Caroline Brophy, BSc, PhD, FTCD, Professor in Statistics at Trinity College Dublin and Head of the Discipline of Statistics and Information, School of Computer Science and Statistics.
Abstract
Ecosystems are ubiquitous, from bacterial to plant to marine life, and they play important roles in providing goods and services to humans and in regulating natural processes. While many ecosystems are naturally occurring, some can be constructed or managed. In controlled cases, decisions can be made about how to manipulate the biodiversity of species to achieve various outcomes (ecosystem functions) for the ecosystem as a whole. Modelling the biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) relationship can provide knowledge to underpin the design of optimal ecosystems. For example, in agriculture, combining select species with complementary traits in crop systems may promote production, reduce weed invasion and increase resource use efficiency. In this talk, I will introduce the history of modelling the BEF relationship and show recent developments using Diversity-Interactions models for disentangling the effects of individual species and species interactions in ecosystems. This will include methods for dealing with data complexities that may arise such as having many species, multiple outcomes, and data collected over space and time.
Biography
Caroline Brophy is a Professor in Statistics at Trinity College Dublin and is the Head of the Discipline of Statistics and Information within the School of Computer Science and Statistics. As part of her research, she develops innovative statistical models for application in ecology, agriculture and environmental science. Her recent work has been focused on improving the sustainability of agricultural production systems via large-scale experiments.
The IBS Distinguished Lecture Series is open to all IBS members worldwide (not limited to English-speaking natives).
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