Alternative angles on community ecology: from elemental distributions to species interaction networks
Abstract: In this seminar, I will present a bit of my background including some projects I have been involved with over the last couple of years from the mesocosm to the landscape scale. This includes an exploration of how changing biotic contexts influences flexibility in partner choice and whether this, in turn, predicts individual performance using a large-scale experimental (terrestrial) mesocosm. As well as a project examining elemental distributions from local to regional scales. Specifically, I integrate distribution models, dissimilarity metrics and spatial smoothing to predict how the distribution of bioavailable elements changes with spatial extent. This community and landscape ecology perspective on elemental diversity highlights the characteristic relationships which emerge among elements in landscapes and can be measured directly in the field. In particular, it represents a step forward to providing a mechanistic link between community and ecosystem processes. These projects are aimed at answering general questions in ecology and while they may trend toward the terrestrial, their application within the freshwater realm remains an exciting possibility. Thus, I end with a view toward the future of where my research may go.
IGB Colloquia open up!
IGB strives to facilitate and accelerate the exchange of knowledge and ideas within and also outside of IGB. One element contributing to inter- and transdisciplinary exchange, and more (scientific) cooperation and innovation, is to open up IGB Colloquia to an interested external audience from science (other research institutes, universities, laboratories) as well as practice (i.e. conservationists, freshwater/land-use managers, authorities, associations). If you would like to join this IGB Colloquium as a guest, we ask you to register until the morning of the colloquium 10 o'clock the latest. After we have checked your registration, you will receive the participation link.