2009-2010
BIOCHANGE Post-doc
Profile
I am a theoretical ecologist interested in an integrative application of the methods of nonlinear dynamics, evolutionary game theory, adaptive networks, statistical mechanics and computational approaches such as individual-based modelling to tackle fundamental questions in community ecology. For a long time ecologists have been searching for the underlying mechanisms of ecosystems stability and resilience; extinction and speciation processes, and abundances distribution. Such `emergent properties’ can be better understood by analogies with models borrowed from complex systems theory such as Self-Organizing Criticality and phase transitions.
During my PhD at the University of Potsdam in the Group of Nonlinear Dynamics (http://www.agnld.uni-potsdam.de/). I have worked both in models of infectious disease dynamics on adaptive social networks and Red Queen predator-prey dynamics on niche spaces.
One central concept in ecology is the niche, since many ecological theories make explicit or implicit use of the niche into their conceptual structures. Yet the concept has been very controversial since its introduction back in the 1920s –there are currently many different interpretations from operational (inductive) approaches to the purely theoretical (deductive) concepts. Clearly, in the face of global change there is an urgency to develop a comprehensive and synthetic niche theory. Such theory must be both operational and mechanistic which is crucial for more informed decision-making
processes for biodiversity conservation planning and ecosystem management. In this framework I work on theoretical deductive models and intent to make connections with heuristic and inductive approaches to produce a better understanding of the patterns observed in nature.
Currently, my other interests involve modelling of social-ecological systems where the interactions among individuals of species with complex social behaviour (cooperation, division of labor, and other
behavioural strategies/economies) that are framed into changing environments are investigated. Of particular interest is, naturally, the dynamical characterization of human societies confronting global
environmental change scenarios.
Selected publications
Dommar CJ, Ryabov A., and Blasius B. Coevolutionary motion and swarming in a niche space model of ecological species interactions. The European Physical Journal-Special Topics, 157(1):223–238, 2008.
Gross T, Dommar D’Lima CJ, and Blasius B. Epidemic dynamics on an adaptive network. Phys. Rev. Lett.,96(208701), 2006.
