Forecasting ecosystem collapse and recovery by tracking networks of species

该项目旨在通过测量相互作用物种网络的变化来评估和预测生态系统的衰退。防止生态系统崩溃的努力正在失败。关注单个物种的管理忽略了生态系统的功能，因为物种之间和环境之间有着复杂的联系。该项目将使用社会网络、食物网理论和网络搜索行为的方法，发现生态系统衰退的症状，并找到诊断共生物种网络变化的可靠指标。目的是阐明物种相互作用、共生和生态系统衰退之间的关系，以及对生态系统恢复至关重要的知识。

This project aims to assess and predict ecosystem decline by measuring change in networks of interacting species. Efforts to prevent ecosystem collapse are failing. A focus on managing individual species ignores the fact that ecosystems function because species have complex associations with one another and the environment. This project will use methods from social networks, food-web theory and web-searching behaviour, to discover symptoms of declining ecosystems and find robust metrics that diagnose change in networks of co-occurring species. The intended outcome is to clarify the relationship between species interactions, co-occurrence and ecosystem decline, knowledge critical to ecosystem recovery.