Please join us for a Seminar in the

Adaptive Management: Water Wetlands and Watersheds IGERT "Integrative Science for a Complex World" Lecture Series

Co-hosted by the Water Institute Smallwood Distinguished Scholar Seminar Series:



Sven Jørgensen, Professor of Environmental Chemistry, Copenhagen University<http://www.ecologicalmodel.net/CV.htm>
Editor-in-chief of Ecological Modeling

Recipient of the Stockholm Water Prize for the Outstanding Contributions to the Ecology of the World's Lakes and Wetlands, and the Prigogine Award



Monday February 23, 2009


3pm - 5pm        Seminar and Discussion, 209 Emerson Hall



Seminar Title:  A New Ecology

Abstract
Current developments in ecosystem theory to understand ecological complexity, particularly those incorporating and applying thermodynamic principles, are making it possible to integrate various ecosystem approaches into a consistent theoretical framework. The time, therefore, seems mature to apply this theory to explain observations, published in the ecological literature, that typically lack linkages to ecological theory or other rule-based explanations. This paper presents the foundations of that theory of ecological complexity in twelve observational principles and summarizes the results from a review of a number of papers using the principles to explain ecological observations. The theory will continue to evolve and be modified as more test cases are made, however, here literature based  explanations of some ecological observations published in the ecological literature are presented  to illustrate how the ecosystem theory is applied in this context.


Thank you,

Mark T. Brown, Professor
Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences
University of Florida


Kathleen McKee
Research Coordinator
Water Institute
University of Florida