ICTP-SAIFR School on Community Ecology: from patterns to principles

Start time: January 20, 2020

Ends on: January 25, 2020

Location: São Paulo, Brazil

Venue: IFT-UNESP

Description:

From the bacteria in our guts, to the plants in the Amazon rainforest, ecological communities are made of many individuals and populations that coexist and interact in the same environment. Despite the complexity of the interactions between species and with the environment, often these communities display regularities in key macroscopic properties, such as their patterns of abundance, composition and the interaction network.

A quantitative understanding of the processes and mechanisms that shape the composition and diversity of such communities requires advanced tools and methods borrowed from statistical physics and applied mathematics. The school will consist in advanced courses on topics in the dynamics and structure of ecological communities, which aims both at introducing students to up-to-date question of the field as well as introduce useful mathematical tools.A particular focus will be given to the emergence of macroecological patterns (“laws”) and to their connection to  fundamental mechanisms.

This activity will be preceded by the ‘IX Southern-Summer School on Mathematical Biology‘. Candidates may apply either for one or both schools, and preference will be given to graduate students in South America. Advanced undergraduate students are also welcome to apply. There is no registration fee and limited funds are available for travel and local expenses.

Lecturers:

• Stefano Allesina (U. Chicago, USA)
• Priyanga Amarasekare (UCLA, USA)
• Otto Cordero (MIT, USA)
• William Bialek (Princeton U., USA)

Organizers:

• Marcus Aguiar (UNICAMP, Brazil)
• Jacopo Grilli (ICTP-Trieste, Italy)
• Roberto Kraenkel (IFT-UNESP, Brazil)
• Ricardo Martinez-Garcia (ICTP-SAIFR, Brazil/Princeton University, USA)
• Paulo Inácio Prado (IB-USP, Brazil) 

Registration deadline: November 10, 2019

Information: https://www.ictp-saifr.org/community-ecology-from-patterns-to-principles/