sFIND - Functional Information: its potential for quantifying biodiversity and its relation to ecosystem functioning. Function, Information and Biodiversity
First meeting: 07.-11.09.2015
iDiv member:
Ivo Große
Project summary:
This workshop draws together experts from biology, physics and information science to develop our understanding of how biodiversity supports the functioning of ecosystems delivering services upon which our lives ultimately depend. The idea to be explored is that biodiversity is essentially a store of functional information - the natural 'know-how' for ecological functioning. We will combine methods from biology and information theory to develop ways of quantifying 'natural information capital' and the degree to which ecological services depend upon it.
Participants:
Larissa Albantakis (University of Wisconsin, Madison); David Ardell (University of California, Merced); Arto Annila (University of Helsinki); Keith Baverstock (University of Eastern Finland); Christina Cobbold (University of Glasgow); Keith Farnsworth (Queen's University Belfast); Lars Gamfeldt (University of Gothenburg); Ivo Grosse (MLU Halle-Wittenberg); Hyunju Kim (Arizona State University); Olga Lyashevska (NIOZ); Axel Rossberg (Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science); Thomas Schneider (National Institutes of Health)
Publications:
Farnsworth, Keith D., Albantakis, Larissa, Caruso, Tancredi (2017) Unifying concepts of biological function from molecules to ecosystems. Oikos. DOI: 10.1111/oik.04171. See here
