Workshop on society and invasive species: registration/contributed presentation submission open
Environmental Conflicts, Social Structures and Invasive Species Control
Tuesday, June 13–Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Online and in Nantes, France
This two-day workshop will focus on the control of invasive species in complex and conflictual social contexts.
The workshop aims to bring together empirical researchers, environmental professionals and theoreticians to share perspectives on invasive species control in a social context. It will emphasize management in the face of disparate interests as well as nonviolent or violent conflicts. With participants from diverse parts of the globe, the workshop aims to help form interdisciplinary connections that lead to relevant research and effective social and environmental interventions.
The workshop will take place in a hybrid virtual and on-site format, with the on-site component at the Institute for Advanced Study–Nantes (IEA-Nantes), France. The languages of the conference are English and French, with interpretation available.
Organizers: Dr. Raphael Kweyu, Kenyatta University (Kenya) and IEA-Nantes; Prof. Judith Miller, Georgetown University (USA) and IEA-Nantes.
Registration is free but mandatory. Twenty in-person registrations are available.
The deadline for registration is May 15, 2023.
The deadline for consideration of contributed presentations is April 30, 2023.
A limited number of slots for online talks and posters are available. Those interested in a presentation should register by April 30, 2023 and use the options in the registration form to submit a title and abstract. Selected presenters will be notified in early May 2023.
A very limited amount of travel funding is available for PhD students. Those wishing to apply for funding must register by April 30, 2023; the funding request form is accessible via the registration page.
The Quantitative Marine Ecology Lab (QMEL) at the University of New Hampshire is recruiting a MS or PhD student interested in using mathematical modeling or statistical tools to address issues related to the ocean. This work could involve metapopulation modeling, sustainable seafood, or the role of extreme events in marine systems.
QMEL is run by Dr. Easton White and consists of scientists with a mix of mathematical and biological skillsets. Members of the lab are strongly committed to anti-racist practices, real diversity and inclusion efforts, and moving science beyond the ivory tower.
Go to https://quantmarineecolab.github.io/join/ for more information on the lab and how to apply.
To help maintain regular contact in the subgroup, we will be hosting virtual coffeeshops starting this summer.
The coffeeshops will run on a fixed schedule, and anyone can join when convenient. Participants will bring their own work to the meeting, so it can be a good way to block out a research commitment during the week. We will also use breakout rooms for larger groups, to facilitate quick check-ins and questions.
Please fill out
this form
to be included on our email list for more information. We are also looking for volunteers to host the sessions!
We are also checking for interest in structured writing groups to start in the future. These closed groups would maintain specific goals and provide feedback on writing during regular meetings.
We are seeking candidates with a proven record of research excellence,
who can teach at undergraduate and graduate levels, who have the desire
and ability to supervise graduate students and contribute to the
success of the department. The position is open to all research areas
of Applied Mathematics, with priority given to applications in the
health and life sciences. We are looking to strengthen and complement
our existing expertise within the department, the faculty and the wider
university community.
For more information and to apply, please go to mathjobs
What is the ecological value of fragmented landscapes?
Imagine the following situation: you are contacted by local authorities to ask your recommendation on two possibilities of ecological reserve parks. The first possibility is a huge park with a total area of 3 km² - almost a new Central Park. The second proposal is constructing three smaller parks, 1 km² each, and therefore summing the same total area as before. After suggesting that both actions should be considered simultaneously and hearing a negative feedback from them, which possibility would you endorse? What further information would you request in order to make your choice?
Well, if you experienced the ecological debates from the 70’s, this scenario might remind you of the question: single large or several small?. This simple question, abbreviated by SLOSS, has evolved for almost half a century and the answer is, up to this day, very arguable 12. Perhaps, one of the most important progresses of this question was to change it from a binary point of view - i.e. compact versus fragmented - to a continuous problem, investigating the effect of the degree of fragmentation to the ecological value of landscapes. It is also important to distinguish between fragmentation and the fragmentation process. This latter occurs simultaneously with habitat loss and, therefore, is always detrimental to ecosystems. To make this distinction even clearer, we refer to the difference of spatial configuration while keeping the total habitat amount constant as fragmentation per se 3.
Since there are no two regions differing purely by spatial configuration, statistical techniques must be applied to observational data in order to isolate the effects of fragmentation per se on abundance, richness, evenness, or other metrics of ecological value 4. And this point is exactly where we believe that computational techniques may be a powerful tool to help researchers to test hypotheses, mechanisms and concepts and even generate controlled artificial data in order to analyse the suitability of statistical techniques.
In this project we propose to explore a population density model of two partial differential equations in binary landscapes, i.e. landscapes composed of regions of either habitat or matrix (non-habitat). Considering mechanisms of diffusive movement of individuals on the entire landscape and two distinct reactions - logistic growth in habitat and death in matrix, - we concluded that fragmentation per se may have positive effects to the abundance of populations given that the matrix is soft, i.e it allows individuals to penetrate reasonable distances. In this case, movement between habitat regions (patches) through the matrix is possible and causes a relaxation of the intraspecific competition within patches, leading to higher abundances of species distributed over a larger area. In the opposite case of a very hostile matrix, habitat patches are disconnected, making it necessary to individually have enough area to support population settlement. Then, landscape fragmentation is detrimental and it can even lead to extinction of species.
We hope our work shifts the paradigm of either fragmentation per se is good or bad to ecological metrics to a less universal perspective, i.e. acknowledging that effects may occur in both directions and with different magnitudes, understanding that each case depends on further information of the system, as the quality of matrix quantified in our model.
About the experience in eSMB2020
We were immensely happy to have the opportunity of exposing our project in a meeting of incredible researchers from all over the world working in Mathematical Biology, and more specifically our subgroup of Population Dynamics, Ecology and Evolution. The feedback, networking and information exchange environment in eSMB2020 was awesome and overcame any possible adversity which an online version could have had compared to traditional conferences. Understanding the new opportunities that the virtual world brings is key and we tried to bring it into our presentation: virtual posters make linking supplementary material, documents and contact information much easier than traditional versions - only one click away from viewers. The platforms selected by the organizers made the poster presentations easy, interactive and reserved, which immensely contributed to the success of the event. Finally, we take the opportunity to thank all organizers, session chairs, lectures and hosts, the support team and every colleague of the Mathematical Biology community present.
References
Fletcher Jr, Robert J., et al. “Is habitat fragmentation good for biodiversity?.” Biological conservation 226 (2018): 9-15. ↩
Fahrig, Lenore, et al. “Is habitat fragmentation bad for biodiversity?.” Biological Conservation 230 (2019): 179-186. ↩
Fahrig, Lenore. “Effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity.” Annual review of ecology, evolution, and systematics 34.1 (2003): 487-515. ↩
Didham, Raphael K., Valerie Kapos, and Robert M. Ewers. “Rethinking the conceptual foundations of habitat fragmentation research.” Oikos 121.2 (2012): 161-170. ↩
