Math model offers clues into ecosystem activity
New research from Spain reveals that species are to ecosystems as cells are to the human body. The researchers developed a mathematical model that recreates the behaviour of an ecosystem, helping them assess the dynamics and reactions of an ecosystem in various situations. The ecosystem forms a permanent entity while the entities that form the ecosystem are in flux. The model is presented in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. Using the mathematical model, the team from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) found that the ecosystem reaches a state in which relatively little affects it even though the species that are contained within are continuously substituted by others. Even if a full change occurs, similar to the change that materialises inside a human organism, the ecosystem's state remains more or less the same. 'In short: the species change, but the structure does not,' explain José A. Cuesta and José A. Capitán, professors in the Department of Mathematics at UC3M and authors of the study. According to the researchers, multicellular beings are like ecosystems as well. Various cell types develop humans, and these cells work together yet compete for resources. People are 'colonised' by various bacteria types found in skin and intestines, among others. The activity of bacteria, say the researchers, is connected to other processes in our organism. Viruses can either play havoc on organisms or help regulate human DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). 'These beings are constantly being changed, in such a way that after a long enough time passes, all of the entities that form us have been substituted one or more times,' Professor Cuesta points out. 'Nevertheless, throughout the process, we continue to be ourselves. This is the same thing that happens with ecosystems.' What this research shows is that ecosystems are like 'self-contained entities', the team says. 'We are obsessed with the preservation of species, but it is much more important to preserve ecosystems,' they add. According to the researchers, replacing an endangered species with another species - that has similar interactions with the other species in the ecosystems - could be useful at times. While we would see the demise of a species, we would in fact ensure that the ecosystem stays intact. Meanwhile, the team goes on to say that species play a crucial role in either an ecosystem or environment. 'The species interact: they eat each other, they fight for territory ... and this causes the presence or absence of certain species to be the most influential factor in the survival of another species,' Professor Cuesta says. 'This property that species have, which allows them to generate their own environment and form an ecosystem, is the aspect that we were most interested in when we approached this study.' Thanks to the mathematical model developed by the team, ecosystems can be monitored for extensive periods, giving researchers the answers they need to questions that have gone unanswered. 'Mathematical models turn out to be very helpful for focusing on the type of data to be gathered in order to verify hypotheses,' Professor Cuesta comments. 'In fact, mathematical ecology has a long tradition in this discipline and ecologists themselves are doing very interesting things by applying mathematical techniques that were developed for use with other phenomena.'For more information, please visit:Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M):http://www.uc3m.es/portal/page/portal/homeJournal of Theoretical Biology:http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622904/description#description
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