FOR 1748: Networks on Networks: The Interplay of Structure and Dynamics in Spatial Ecological Networks

该研究单位的目标是通过使用数学模型来了解空间扩展生态系统的结构和动态。生态系统受到气候变化和人类直接干扰的威胁，例如物种被杀和许多物种的生境被破坏。由于生态系统的巨大复杂性，预测这些变化如何影响生态系统的稳定性以及哪些物种面临灭绝的风险最高并不容易。几十年来，为了回答这些问题和类似的问题，人们一直在用数学方法模拟生态系统。这些模型基本上包括物种之间的摄食关系，因为食物供应是决定物种生存的最重要因素。然而，只有少数出版物考虑模型，包括空间结构的生态系统，包含许多物种。这就是本研究股打算作出重要贡献的地方。研究人员调查了物种的生存和生态系统的稳定性如何取决于空间结构，不同地区之间的物种迁移和喂养关系。为了用数学模型回答这些问题，重要的是选择模型，一方面，足够现实，以便可以得到有效的结论，另一方面，模型必须足够简单，允许计算机模拟许多物种在许多空间斑块。该研究单位的研究人员为该项目提供了所需的不同类型的专业知识：他们可以获得空间扩展生态系统的许多经验数据，他们知道生态系统是如何结构化的，以及由于捕食和其他因素而引起的种群增减如何用数学描述，他们开发了有效计算生态系统稳定性的数学方法。有了这些工具，研究人员希望研究栖息地的空间布局和大小如何影响物种的生存和范围，以及生态系统的稳定性如何取决于觅食关系和空间的复杂性。

The goal of this Research Unit consists in achieving an understanding of the structure and dynamics of spatially extended ecosystems by using mathematical models. Ecosystems are threatened by climatic changes and direct human interference such as the killing of species and the fragmentation of the habitat of many species. Due to the large complexity of ecosystems, it is not easy to predict how these changes affect the stability of ecosystems and which species run the highest risk of extinction. For several decades, ecosystems have been modelled mathematically in order to answer these and similar questions. Such models essentially include feeding relationships between species, since food supply is the most important factor at determining the survival of a species. However, only few publications consider models that include the spatial structure of an ecosystem that contains many species. This is the point where this Research Unit intends to make an important contribution. The researchers investigate how the survival of species and the stability of ecosystems depend on the structure of space, the migration of species between different areas and the feeding relationships. In order to answer these questions using mathematical models, it is important to choose models that are, on the one hand, sufficiently realistic so that valid conclusions can be obtained, on the other hand, the models must be simple enough to allow the computer simulation of many species on many spacial patches. The researchers of this Research Unit contribute the different types of expertise required for this project: They have access to many empirical data for spatially extended ecosystems, they know how ecosystems are structured and how the increase and decrease of populations due to predation and other factors is mathematically described, and they have developed mathematical methods for calculating efficiently the stability of ecosystems. Equipped with these tools, the researchers want to investigate how the spatial arrangement and size of habitats affect the survival and the range of species and how the stability of ecosystems depends on the complexity of the feeding relationships and of space.