10.12.2019; Vortrag
Gastvortrag von George Perry: Simulating ecosystem dynamics of the past and their legacies for the future
(School of Environment, University of Auckland)
► Everybody is invited to join the talk and the discussion.
Abstract
Ecosystems can be seen as palimpsests, with the patterns of the past continually overwritten by contemporary processes. However, no single method of observation can see all four-dimensions of the ecological palimpsest. Neo-ecological studies are limited to the surface, and palaeoecological studies, while looking into the past, see just a part of ecosystem assembly and change. Using extinction and shifts in fire regime in New Zealand's ecosystems after human settlement as examples, I will illustrate how simulation-based synthesis of empirical information can help to reconstruct these events and understand their relevance for contemporary ecosystems.