Stability criteria for complex ecosystems

Ecosystems as Complex Systems

Stability and diversity of ecosystems.

Understanding the relationship between diversity and stability requires a knowledge of how species interact with each other and how each is affected by the environment. The relationship is also complex, because the concept of stability is multifaceted; different types of stability describing different properties of ecosystems lead to multiple diversity-stability relationships. A growing number ...

Qualitative Stability in Model Ecosystems

We discuss deductions that can be made as to the stability of multispecies communities, knowing only the structure of the food web, i.e., knowing only the signs of the elements in the interaction matrix. Systems which are stable in these circumstances are called qualitatively stable and have been treated in economic and other contexts. The discussion touches upon general aspects of the relation...

Approximate Bayesian inference for complex ecosystems

Mathematical models have been central to ecology for nearly a century. Simple models of population dynamics have allowed us to understand fundamental aspects underlying the dynamics and stability of ecological systems. What has remained a challenge, however, is to meaningfully interpret experimental or observational data in light of mathematical models. Here, we review recent developments, nota...

Establishing IUCN Red List Criteria for Threatened Ecosystems

The potential for conservation of individual species has been greatly advanced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) development of objective, repeatable, and transparent criteria for assessing extinction risk that explicitly separate risk assessment from priority setting. At the IV World Conservation Congress in 2008, the process began to develop and implement comparab...