Food Web Ecology Lab: Japan!

Aquatic Food Web Ecology Lab, Dalhousie University

Research in the Aquatic Food Web Ecology Lab based at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, focuses on the consequences of biodiversity loss to the functioning and stability of aquatic food webs. All of our work is done in a food web context, which means that its not just the numbers of species that we are interested in, but also the structure of the food webs in which those species are embedded. Most of our work is done in aquatic microcosms, small container ecosystems in which we can assemble food webs and then subject them to various types of disturbance regimes . We also use mathematical models to run "in silico" experiments, otherwise known as computer simulations, to study problems that are too complex or just not possible to conduct in natural systems.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Japan!

Just got back from a conference in Sendai, Japan: "Ecosystem Management Applying to Ecosystem Adaptability Science: Robustness and stability of organisims and ecosystems". This conference was just incredible - 25 speakers, 5 days, great science, and good friends! Here is a shot of Kevin McCann and I taking a nature walk on one of our afternoons off. I would like to thank Hiroko and all the conference organizers for inviting me. One of the best conferences I can remember! (The other dude is Macaca fuscata - a trip to Japan is nothing without a side-trip to see the snow monkeys!