Synthetic Ecology for the management and commercial exploitation of freshwater ecosystems

主题：农业和粮食安全与植物科学系的成员合作，2013）是关于我们如何利用我们对生态系统过程的理解来推动系统走向理想的终点。其目的是为系统注入关键成分，从而使其有可能朝着理想的终点稳定下来。我们有可能使用双壳类软体动物，化感物质，竞争者和增效剂，或限制营养物质故意改变社区。例如，这可能使我们能够获得清水（即标准生物操纵），将系统转向富含脂质的藻类群落用于生物燃料生产，或分别为受威胁或入侵生物创造特别有利或不利的条件。研究可以将联合收割机实验室研究与按比例放大的中型生态系统和与水工业的全尺寸试验相结合。该项目具有利用系统生物学和建模来模拟生态系统相互作用和预测在一系列不同环境条件和物种多样性下可能出现的稳定顶极群落的潜力。该项目肯定需要使用统计分析和建模，这可以通过使用R Studio和MatLab等程序来实现。

Theme: Agriculture and Food SecurityIn collaboration with members of the Plant Sciences Department a concept paper (Kazamia et al., 2013) was developed on how we can use our understanding of ecosystem processes to push a system towards a desirable end-point. The aim is to seed a system with key components, which are therefore likely to stabilise towards a desirable end point. We have the potential to use bivalve moullscs, allelopathic substances, competitors and synergists, or limiting nutrients to intentionally alter communities. This might, for example, allow us to gain clear water (i.e. standard biomanipulation), move a system towards a lipid rich algal community for biofuel production, or create conditions that are particularly favourable or unfavourable for a threatened or invasive organism respectively. Studies can combine laboratory studies with scaled-up mesocosms and full scale trials with the water industry.This project has the potential to utilise systems biology and modelling to emulate ecosystem interactions and predict the stable climax communities which may arise under a range of different environmental conditions and species diversities. The project will certainly require the use of statistical analysis and modelling which can be achieved by using programmes such as R Studio and MatLab.