Complex Systems Speaker and Seminar Series

Spring 2014:

Spring 2014 Lecture Series Flyer.pdf

February 20 -21 2014: Dr. Jennifer Dunne, Santa Fe Institute. Model of food webs in the Aleutian Islands.

March 4 -5 2014: Dr. Mark Brown, University of Florida. Emergy.

March 21 2014: Dr. Katherine Rawlins, Physics Department. IceCube and evidence of neutrinos from beyond our Galaxy.

March 28 2014: Brendan Babb, Computer Science and Engineering Engineering Department. "6 degrees between Kevin Bacon, the Mars Rovers and Evolutionary Computation"

April 4 2014: Dr. Diwakar Vadapalli. Institite for Social and Economic Research. Constructing subsitance use areas from survey data: On the intersection of social and environmental sciences.

April 11 2014: Eric Somerville, Computer Science and Engineering Engineering Department. How complex is it to build a Yup'ik language spellchecker?

February 20 -21 2013.

Dr. Jennifer Dunne, Santa Fe Institute.

Model of food webs in the Aleutian Islands.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20

7 p.m. Rasmuson Hall, Room 101

Abstract:

Are Humans Just Another Predator? The Roles of Human Foragers in North Pacific Marine Food Webs

Most studies of humans and ecosystems present human impacts on ecosystems. However, our ability to understand and mitigate such impacts depends on the roles humans play in ecosystems. Food webs provide a useful way to quantify ecological roles of species including humans. By synthesizing 6,000 years of biological, archeological, ethnographic, and other data from marine ecosystems in the North Pacific, in particular the Sanak Archipelago in the Eastern Aleutian Islands, we can characterize how Unangan/Aleut hunter-gatherers fit into complex marine food webs, how they compared to other predators, and how their behaviors might have affected long-term ecosystem sustainability.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21

Noon, Integrated Science Building, Room 105

Deep Time Perspectives on Complex Ecological Networks: A Half-Billion Years of Food Webs

Abstract:

Extending ecological research back through deep time provides an important framework for understanding the acro-evolutionary structure, function, and dynamics of the ecosystems of today and tomorrow. While many paleo-biological studies focus on species morphology, diversity, and distributions, there are also opportunities to analyze complex species interactions. We have compiled detailed food webs for ancient ecosystems from ~500 and 50 million years ago. Using network structure analysis and current modeling techniques on extant food webs and other kinds of networks, we can compare the organization of these “paleo food webs” in current ecological networks, and consider the implications for likely constraints on the structure and stability of these paradigmatic complex systems.

Dr. Jennifer Dunne’s research is in analysis, modeling, and theory of organization, dynamics, and function of complex species interactions. Much of this work focuses the basic architecture for the flow of energy and resources in ecosystems that play a central role in ecological and evolutionary dynamics, and seeking to identify fundamental patterns and principles of ecological network structure. She is extending the scope and impact of this research with interdisciplinary collaborations in archaeology, art, computer science, economics, evolutionary theory, microbiology, paleobiology, parasitology, physics, and social science. She received a Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley, held a NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics, and has been on faculty of the Santa Fe Institute since 2007.

JenniferDunne.pdf

March 4 -5 2014

Dr. Mark Brown, University of Florida.

Energy.

TUESDAY, MARCH 4

7 p.m. Rasmuson Hall, Room 101

Abstract:

Energy & the Economy: Reflections on Sustainability

Energy & the Economy: Reflections on Sustainability Using systems principles, the economy from a biophysical perspective is a hierarchical interconnected system of resource and monetary flows, driven by available energy and resources. The ability of the environment to support human society is limited, and we need to reconsider the ways we use, measure, and economically value the material resources we consume. We must understand the limits of sustainability as a solution to our energy needs, and develop guidelines for a “prosperous way down”.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5

Noon, Student Union, Lyla Richards Conference Room

Abstract:

“Emergy” Values of the Marine Ecosystem: Environmental Accounting for Recovery of Ecosystem Values after Disasters, Using the Exxon Valdez as a Case Study “Emergy” is an environmental accounting methodology that evaluates goods and services based on the environmental and economic work needed to make them, not human preferences or utility. The Exxon Valdez oil spill will be used to demonstrate this methodology, and assess and discuss the costs of several mitigation strategies to avoid spills in the future.

DR. MARK BROWN is a professor of Environmental Engineering Sciences and director of the Center for Environmental Policy at the University of Florida. His research is focused on the interface of humanity and the environment including systems ecology, ecological engineering, ecological economics, and environmental policy. For six years Dr. Brown was a consulting ecologist to The Cousteau Society, working with research teams to develop solutions to a wide array of resource management problems that affect marine resources throughout the world.

Mark Brown Events.pdf

March 21 2014

Dr. Katherine Rawlins, Physics Department.

IceCube and evidence of neutrinos from beyond our Galaxy.