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A classic model for ecological stability revised, 40 years later
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/uocm-acm021612.php[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif]Public release date: 19-Feb-2012
Contact: Robert Mitchum
robert.mitchum@uchospitals.edu
773-795-5227
University of Chicago Medical Center
[font size=5]A classic model for ecological stability revised, 40 years later[/font]
[font size=4]Predator-prey relationships stabilize diverse ecosystems, according to calculation[/font]
[font size=3]A famous mathematical formula which shook the world of ecology 40 years ago has been revisited and refined by two University of Chicago researchers in the current issue of Nature.
…
Adjusting May's formula to incorporate predator-prey or consumer-resource relationships, where one species profits at the expense of another, allows the model to describe an ecosystem where stability is possible even with an infinite number of species.
"Predator-prey relationships are stabilizing. We can fit much larger ecosystems if there's a backbone of predator-prey interactions, and see a lot of species happily co-existing ever after," said Allesina, PhD, assistant professor of Ecology & Evolution at the University of Chicago. "We kind of solved this one puzzle of how can we see very many species in an ecosystem. But then we open different puzzles."
May's original model, also published by Nature, sought to challenge the ecological belief that diverse ecosystems were more resistant to perturbations such as invasive species or abrupt climate change. With his physics training, May set out to create a model of the relationship between diversity and stability with the fewest possible factors, settling upon a model that used only the number of species and the strength of their interactions with each other.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature10832Contact: Robert Mitchum
robert.mitchum@uchospitals.edu
773-795-5227
University of Chicago Medical Center
[font size=5]A classic model for ecological stability revised, 40 years later[/font]
[font size=4]Predator-prey relationships stabilize diverse ecosystems, according to calculation[/font]
[font size=3]A famous mathematical formula which shook the world of ecology 40 years ago has been revisited and refined by two University of Chicago researchers in the current issue of Nature.
…
Adjusting May's formula to incorporate predator-prey or consumer-resource relationships, where one species profits at the expense of another, allows the model to describe an ecosystem where stability is possible even with an infinite number of species.
"Predator-prey relationships are stabilizing. We can fit much larger ecosystems if there's a backbone of predator-prey interactions, and see a lot of species happily co-existing ever after," said Allesina, PhD, assistant professor of Ecology & Evolution at the University of Chicago. "We kind of solved this one puzzle of how can we see very many species in an ecosystem. But then we open different puzzles."
May's original model, also published by Nature, sought to challenge the ecological belief that diverse ecosystems were more resistant to perturbations such as invasive species or abrupt climate change. With his physics training, May set out to create a model of the relationship between diversity and stability with the fewest possible factors, settling upon a model that used only the number of species and the strength of their interactions with each other.
…[/font][/font]
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