Evoluutioteoria ja matemaattinen ekologia: mitä annettavaa niillä on meille kestävän kehityksen näkökulmasta? Professori Simon Levin Suomessa 8.10.

Simon Levin: Complex Adaptive Systems and the Challenge of Sustainability

Paikka: Kumpulan tiedekampus, Exactum-talo, auditorium CK112, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2b

Aika: maanantai 8.10. kello 16-17

Matematiikan ja tilastotieteen laitoksen johtaja, biomatematiikan professori Mats Gyllenberg (http://www.helsinki.fi/~mgyllenb / ) luonnehtii yliopiston luennoitsijavierasta:

Professor Simon Levin (Princeton University) is an outstanding scientist in mathematical ecology and evolutionary biology, whose work has influenced a number of research areas. His primary interest is the mathematical modelling of complex ecological systems, in order to understand the macroscopic properties of ecosystems in terms of the behaviour and evolution of its constituent species. Recently, this research broadened to encompass economical systems as well, with special emphasis on the vulnerability of complex systems and the evolution of organization. Concrete studies range from the management of public goods to social norms, to collective behaviour of animal flocks, to antibiotic resistance and to the evolution of biological diversity.

Professor Levin is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) and holds numerous distinctions such as the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences and the First Okubo Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Mathematical Biology.

Simon Levin, abstract:

The continual increase in the human population, magnified by increasing per capita demands on Earth's limited resources, raise the urgent mandate of understanding the degree to which these patterns are sustainable. The scientific and mathematical challenges posed by this simply stated goal are enormous, and cross disciplines. What measures of human welfare should be at the core of definitions of sustainability, and how do we discount the future and deal with problems of intra-generational and inter-generational equity?

How do environmental and socioeconomic systems become organized as complex adaptive systems, and what are the implications for dealing with public goods at scales from the local to the global? How does the increasing interconnectedness of coupled natural and human systems affect the robustness of aspects of importance to us, and what are the implications for management. What is the role of social norms, and how do we achieve cooperation at the global level? All of these issues have parallels in evolutionary biology, and this lecture will explore what lessons can be learned from ecology and evolutionary theory for addressing the problems posed by achieving a sustainable future, emphasizing some of the mathematical challenges.

http://www.princeton.edu/~slevin

Ystävällisin terveisin

Minna Meriläinen-Tenhu, tiedottaja, minna.merilainen@helsinki.fi , (09) 191 51042