Understanding ecological dynamics: Stability metrics and Early warnings

Understanding stability of ecosystems and communities has always been major challenge for ecologists. Definitions and measures of stability abound and at times are confusing. Nowadays it is in general accepted that stability is multidimensional and it needs to be measured in different ways. Some of the metrics are used to highlight resistance of ecological systems to a specific type of perturbations (like an invasion of an alien). Others have been developed to highlight the approach to tipping points (that is catastrophic transitions between different dynamical states). As long-term data become increasingly available and experimental approaches are improving, the challenge is how to apply our theoretical metrics on these ecological dynamics to understand stability. In the talk, I will present a possible way for identifying best suitable metrics for measuring stability in ecological communities. More in depth, I will also focus on how changes in dynamical properties of ecological dynamics can be used as early warnings to abrupt ecological changes using examples from ecology and the climate.Non UBCUnreviewedAuthor affiliation: Université de MontpellierResearche