Project
summary
This is to be a highly interdisciplinary workshop, uniting the
knowledge and understanding of information theory, community
ecology, molecular and computational biology (underpinned by
complex-systems and ontological theory). The workshop will be preceded
by remotely managed collaboration (this website) so its purpose is to
consolidate developing ideas. Together, we are exploring the use of
information theory to address the iDiv theme question of how
biodiversity gives rise to ecological function. We will build an
understanding of biodiversity as the functional complexity of a
biological system totalled over organisational scales from molecules to
ecological networks. Particularly we will focus on the complexity of
the systems as dynamic networks, seeking to quantify systemic
complexity with direct application in valuing and prioritising the
integrity of biological networks (rather than just their component
parts). The workshop shall examine information-theoretical methods to
quantify biodiversity in terms of information content using
network models of biological systems at multiple scales of
organisation. Our primary methodological question will be: “Can we
scale-up existing information-based measures from molecular to
ecological networks”. We will attempt to answer this question by
applying information theoretic methods to networks representing
ecological communities. We will use a case study system to
quantitatively illustrate our progress, to encourage its take-up by
empirical scientists and eventually its use in the policy arena.
Following the workshop we will apply our developments to estimate the
functional information of the case-study system and relate this to
measures of ecological function so as to empirically test the value of
this concept for practical prioritising of ecosystem attributes in
conservation plans.