Construction and analysis of mathematical models for energy flow and nutrient cycling in ecosystems

碳(C)、氮(N)和磷(P)是生物量的重要组成部分：C为细胞提供能量，N是蛋白质的重要组成部分，P是核酸的重要组成部分。任何这些元素的缺乏都会严重限制生物和人口的增长。因此，在营养缺乏的环境中，考虑营养循环或化学计量学对种群模型至关重要。生态化学计量学已被证明是理解生态相互作用的重要新方法。化学计量理论强调元素物质，涵盖了从分子到生物圈的所有生物尺度，并允许通过严格的化学和物理约束来构建机制模型。机械推导的化学计量模型可以解释生态学中的许多基本悖论，并产生新的数学挑战。

Carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) are vital constituents in biomass: C supplies energy to cells, N is an essential component of proteins, and P is an essential component of nucleic acids. The scarcity of any of these elements can severely restrict organism and population growth. Hence, in nutrient deficient environments the consideration of nutrient cycling, or stoichiometry, is essential for population models. Ecological stoichiometry has proven to be an important new approach for understanding ecological interactions. With its emphasis on elemental matter, stoichiometric theory covers all biological scales, from molecules to the biosphere, and allows the construction of mechanistic models via rigorous chemical and physical constraints. Mechanistically derived stoichiometric models can explain many fundamental paradoxes in ecology and generate new mathematical challenges.