Complex Systems Ecology

Research group of Daniel B. Stouffer
Grafik

© Daniel Stouffer/IGB

Ecological communities are paradigmatic complex systems in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. To paraphrase the late Robert May, they provide countless examples where two and two do not make four. A key driver of such phenomena are the interactions between species, as they can be both the glue that hold populations together and the force that drives populations apart. In the Complex Systems Ecology research group, we aim to use computational, statistical, and analytical approaches to overcome communities’ innate complexity while exploring fundamental ecological and evolutionary questions.

Our research is fundamentally theoretical in nature, and we regard ourselves as sympathetic to the idea of “theory for theory’s sake”. Nevertheless, we strive to take an empirically informed, data-driven approach whenever possible. This means that many of our research projects can be broken down into (i) disentangling patterns in empirical data and (ii) exploring these patterns’ emergent ecological or evolutionary consequences. This process usually involves tools and techniques from outside of biology (e.g., statistics, physics, or applied math) or developing bespoke methods that are tailored to the core questions at hand.

To date, our primary research foci have been in quantitative community ecology, particularly in studies involving ecological networks such as predator–prey food webs or plant–pollinator assemblages. For more details, please visit our website at stoufferlab.org.

Team