Mathematical and computational modelling of biodiversity
Ryan Chisholm, National University of Singapore
https://ryanchisholm.com/
Abstract:
Biodiversity is under threat across our planet from climate change, deforestation, and overexploitation. My lab focuses on mathematical and computational approaches to understanding biodiversity. In this talk, I will first discuss a recent project applying modelling tools to historical biodiversity data in Singapore to estimate how many species have gone extinct in the highly developed tropical island nation over the last 200 years. I will then present work exploring the fundamental question of what mechanisms maintain biodiversity in nature using a combination of mathematical modelling, observational data, and experiments. Lastly, I will discuss potential applications of high-performance computational mechanistic biodiversity models to open-world games and virtual reality.
Bio:
Associate Professor Ryan Chisholm is a theoretical ecologist at the National University of Singapore. He completed a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics and a BA in German at the University of Melbourne, a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. His primary research interests are tropical biodiversity and extinctions. He uses a range of mathematical, computational and statistical tools to explore these topics.
#modeling #simulation #biodiversity #biology #ecology #hpc #vr #deforestation #climatechange