BIOCOMPLEXITY: Scaling of Biodiversity: Physical and Biological Foundations of Ecological Principles

0083422布朗生命的多样性和生态的复杂性的基础是秩序，反映了基本的物理和生物过程的运作。 标度关系是生物多样性的一种新的数量特征。其中一些似乎是普遍的，发生在几乎所有生物类群和各种环境中。它们是在许多数量级上自相似或类似分形的结构或动力学模式。它们可以用幂函数进行数学描述。它们允许在广泛的尺度上进行外推和预测。它们为有力地限制生物多样性的潜在机制提供了线索。这项研究将使用数学模型和经验测量的相互作用来阐明物理和生物学原理，这些原理决定了生物体的生活史、丰度、分布和物种丰富度如何随身体大小、空间和时间而变化。研究和教育活动计划包括：（1）物理学家，数学家，地质学家/水文学家，生物学家和生态学家之间的合作，（2）来自七个机构的科学家之间的互动，（3）新墨西哥州，圣达菲研究所和洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室之间的合作，以及（4）研究生和博士后研究员的跨学科培训。

0083422Brown Underlying the diversity of life and the complexity of ecology is order that reflects the operation of fundamental physical and biological processes. Scaling relationships are emergent quantitative features of biodiversity. Some of them appear to be universal, occurring in virtually all taxa of organisms and kinds of environments. They are patterns of structure or dynamics that are self-similar or fractal-like over many orders of magnitude. They can be described mathematically by power functions. They allow extrapolation and prediction over a wide range of scales., They offer clues to underlying mechanisms that powerfully constrain biodiversity. This research will use the interplay of mathematical models and empirical measurements to elucidate the physical and biological principles that determine how the life history, abundance, distribution, and species richness of organisms scale with body size, space, and time. The program of research and education activities involves: (1) collaborations among physicists, mathematicians, geologists/hydrologists, biologists and ecologists, (2) interactions among scientists from seven institutions, (3) cooperation between the University of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Institute, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, and (4) interdisciplinary training for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.