Future challenges for scaling from individual to ecosystems, Biology

Assignment Help:

Define Future challenges for scaling from individual to ecosystems?

Scaling of biogeochemical fluxes in terrestrial systems has confirmed much harder. While ecosystem ecologists frequently scale "from leaf-to-globe" in one or two steps (Ehleringer and Field 1993, Fitz et al. 1996), population and community ecologists have insisted that variability within and between populations and species should be incorporated in this scaling process. Such scaling is biologically and mathematically non-trivial. Though, scaling from leaves to individuals, functional ecologists have found it difficult to develop common models that can predict plant responses to increases in CO2 and temperature (Bernacchi et al. 2000). The problem obtains even harder when plants balance their requirements for multiple nutrients; interact with other plants, soil microbes, or herbivores; respond to their environment through acclimating (showing phenotypic plasticity); or respond by modifying their development (showing ontogenetic shifts). We need both data, and models that can incorporate the data, for the influences of spatial variation in populations caused by disturbance and environmental variation at a within-grid spatial scale (Moorcroft et al. 2001); successional and climate-driven shifts of species composition and functional guild composition within a specified habitat; and movement of species range limits while climates change rapidly (Pitelka et al. 1997).)

The mathematical, statistical and computational challenges here are formidable. We should come up with ways for consistently constraining large models with continental-scale databases, and for estimating the future behavior of species assemblages in a changing climate. More basically, we need to find ways that models can be sped up to the point where they can be coupled with global-scale simulation models, by some combination of computational advances (algorithmic and parallel-computation techniques) and mathematical advances which aggregate the details of models while retaining quantitative accuracy in physical and biogeochemical properties at a larger scale. The critical biological question, which can just only be answered by exploration, is whether the signature of individual interactions along with the abiotic environment is reliably transmitted up multiple levels of organizational scale, or if the frequency- dependent and idiosyncratic nature of community interactions blurs these regularities at the ecosystem scale. With appropriate attention to both the mathematical rules of scaling and to the regularities observed in the way that broad classes of organisms have solved their ecological problems (Reich et al. 1997), we should be capable to develop a new class of tools that greatly increase our power to understand and predict biological dynamics throughout a range of scales.


Related Discussions:- Future challenges for scaling from individual to ecosystems

What is rh typing of mother & fetus hemolythemolytic disease, What is the R...

What is the Rh typing of the mother and of the fetus in the hemolytic disease of the newborn? In a hemolytic disease of the newborn the mother is Rh- and the fetus Rh+. In thes

Can you explaon about aortography, Q. Can you explaon about Aortography? ...

Q. Can you explaon about Aortography? Visualization of the aorta and its branches is possible by several modalities today. Apart from angiography, aorta can also be visualized

Female drosophila with singed bristles, A female Drosophila with singed bri...

A female Drosophila with singed bristles is crossed to a male with sepia (dark brown) eyes. In the F1, all females are wild-type and all males have singed bristles. F1 males and fe

Principal sources of excessive nitrate and phosphate, What are the principa...

What are the principal sources of excessive nitrate and phosphate in rivers and lakes? Excessive nitrates and phosphates come majorly from sewage effluents and intensive agric

Explian anthropometric measures, Explian Anthropometric measures Anthr...

Explian Anthropometric measures Anthropometric measures : It measures growth  in  children  and  shows changes  in weight  in  all populations  that  call reflect  diseases an

What is implant prior to stage 2 surgery, Enumerate the different means of ...

Enumerate the different means of evaluating the implant prior to stage 2 surgery. The Different means for evaluating the implant prior to stage 2; i) Radiographic evaluation

Pathogenesis, Even though association between GAS pharyngitis and the ARF i...

Even though association between GAS pharyngitis and the ARF is fairly well established, the exact pathogenic mechanisms are not clearly understood. However, two mechanisms are post

Tissue Cells, How is an Epithelial cell made?

How is an Epithelial cell made?

What do you understand by melanocytes, Q. What are melanocytes? Melanoc...

Q. What are melanocytes? Melanocytes are epithelial cells of the skin specialized in secretion of melanin and Melanin is a pigment that besides coloring the iris of the eye and

Effects of flow limiting stenosis on blood flow, 1) The presence of epicar...

1) The presence of epicardial coronary artery stenosis caused by artherosclerotic plaques is by far the most frequent angiographic finding in any cardiac ischaemic syndrome. 2)

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd