河口生态学Lecture15Ecosystem Models.pptVIP

* Lecture 15 Ecosystem Models Systems Approach for Ecosystem Modeling Recall the levels of organization: individual-population-community-ecosystem-biosphere This series is a hierarchy of complexity Interactions between the physical (energy matter) with the biological at each level produces Functional Systems System: any phenomenon, either structural or functional, having at least 2 separable components and some interaction between these components The combination of subsets results in properties that are more than the simple sum of individual parts New properties emerge - called Emergent Properties Systems Analysis the process of translating physical or biological concepts about a system into a set of mathematical relationships and the manipulation of the mathematical system The mathematical system is called a Model and is an imperfect and abstract representation of the real world Systems analysis is a broad research strategy that is used as a TOOL for understanding complex processes Systems Ecology is the application of systems analysis procedures to ecological systems The approach is holistic - facilitates the study of the total behavior of a complex system Systems Approach for Ecosystem Modeling A model is an abstraction or simplification of a system - a simplified version of the real world In simplest form, models may be verbal or graphical Must be statistical or mathematical if used for prediction or dynamic change Biological systems are difficult to model Compare and contrast the “Engineering-type” model with a “Biological” model Systems Approach for Ecosystem Modeling Ecological Systems have many components that are highly interactive A reduction in the number of components is a necessary part of the modeling procedure - can’t include everything! This is usually done using functional groups Attempt to balance simplicity with complexity Models can be evaluated based on three main properties: 1) Realism - the degree to wh