Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
Backgrounds and Scope of Ecological
Modelling: Between Intellectual Adventure
and Scientific Routine
Broder Breckling, Fred Jopp, and Hauke Reuter
Abstract The biological environment is full of diversity, changing situations, and
dynamic alterations. This makes the field exciting and demanding, and sometimes
confusing to understand. Models are one of the means to gain and maintain an
overview of the various phenomena emerging in the different biotopes and relating
to a wide range of scientific questions.
1.1 Getting Started: Motivations for Ecological Modelling
Nature is in a state of continuous dynamic change. Through the millenia it has
accumulated the diversity and complexity as it is found today. Anthropogenic influ-
ences have altered many habitats, often with the consequence of a dramatic loss of
biological diversity. Many species vanish while others colonize new environments.
We need to understand the implications of natural dynamics and human interventions.
How far can ecology as an empirical science and modelling as a set of analysis
and synthesis tools help us to enable an adequate understanding of the ongoing
dynamics (Fig.
1.1a-g
)? Different modelling approaches have been applied to
assess a wide range of questions relating to most ecological systems. The topic
contains several examples to illustrate questions asked and systems studied with
different modelling approaches. For instance, how important is the impact of
agriculture for local biodiversity loss and what role does dispersal of organisms
play in this context (Fig.
1.1a
; Chap. 16); how important are seasonal variations
of wetlands for the structure and the dynamics of small fish communities in a
disturbed marshland (DeAngelis et al. 2010; Fig.
1.1b
; Chap. 19); how are food
webs structured and what are the driving forces for oscillating dynamics (Fig.
1.1c
;
Chaps. 5 and 12); what are the environmental factors determining phase shifts in
coral reef systems and at which points should management intervene (Fig.
1.1c
;
