Systems Ecology

Systems Ecology (thinking about ecological systems as systems) flourished in the 1970s. It had two main streams: groups constructing large (and unwieldy) simulation models of particular biomes (most notoriously, in the International Biological Programme, or IBP); and theoreticians analysing the mathematical properties of relatively simple (not to say simplistic) ecological models. The term acquired a some what unsavoury image, and both the term itself and the undertaking of systems ecology both fell out of favour. However, there is a resurgence of recognition that we need some sort of whole-systems approach if we are to tackle the problems facing the world, and over the last year or so a momentum has developed to explore just what the New Systems Ecology should be like and to promote a renewed interest in the approach.

Links

The Systems Ecology wiki - the hub for anything connected with the Systems Ecology initiative. The home page links to key events and activities, so please go there to see what's happening.

Opportunities

We can let others know what we are doing - by providing an item on the Systems Ecology wiki to this site.

We can ask people in the Systems Ecology community to suggest candidate models suitable for conversion.

We can contribute to the Thematic Topic on Systems Ecology which will be held during the British Ecological Society Annual Meeting in Birmingham in Dec 2012. I (Robert) have been asked to make a contribution at this half-day event. Options are:

- I talk about something else.

- I talk about STEEMI.

- I talk about something else and one of you talks about STEEMI (which would be far better).

- None of the above.