Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/12/2025
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Speaker: Christopher Heggerud (University of Manitoba)

Location: Hamilton Hall, Room 410 (& Zoom)

Title: Regime shifts in resource explicit ecological systems.

Abstract: In theoretical population biology, the study of steady-states, persistence and other long-term dynamics are often made the focal point. Undoubtedly this focus has led to many key biological insights, but certain questions pertaining to dynamics that occur on much shorter, and ecologically relevant timescales are often overlooked. This mismatch suggests that the study of transient dynamics and regime shifts is of significant interest for both understanding and predicting population dynamics. Additionally, these timescales differences are even more pronounced in populations that have an explicit dependence on resources and resource dynamics. In this talk I will discuss resource explicit population modeling and show how the study of transient dynamics leads to significant insights both mathematically and ecologically. I will illustrate how resource dynamics can be influenced by human interactions resulting in several possible regime outcomes. Furthermore, I will discuss new methods to predict the occurrence of transient dynamics and regime shifts from ecological data.

Zoom link: https://mcmaster.zoom.us/j/98308755554  (Passcode: MathBio)