Unifying Ecology Across Scales
Ecology is a science of change in living systems.
Ecology has become a science of change in living systems (O'Connor et al. 2020). From efforts to understand climate change impacts to biodiversity change to sustainability, ecologists are working with other scientists around the world to understand how our biosphere works and our role - as humans - within it. To achieve the understanding we seek, we must build bridges between our disparate scientific disciplines. Only with a coherent science that bridges observations and theories across scales and levels of organization can we best inform our actions as humans in a changing world. Our team works to bridge theories of how temperature change affects ecological systems with theories for biodiversity and information in living systems, and to do this while grounding our work in our understanding of coastal ecology and conservation Canada. We do this by combining theoretical models with carefully designed experiments and observational studies to better develop a general scientific understanding of change. We also work on the ground - and in the water - with people in Canada concerned about eelgrass health, biodiversity and ecosystem services. We are constantly working to expand our perspective on science and our world around us, and to translate the knowledge we gain to education and action. |
Research themes
Biodiversity: Causes and consequences of change
Biodiversity is the variety of life. Most of the diversity of life on our planet lives in our oceans. Biodiversity provides ecosystem functions and services that sustain life in the ocean, and on land, and in human societies. We discover biodiversity in Canada’s coastal ecosystems, and we develop and test the scientific frameworks that allow us to understand what we’re seeing in nature, how it’s changing, and what that change might imply for the future.
This work contributes to Canada’s biodiversity inventories, allowing Canada to contribute to global inventories. We also work to ensure that conservation and management efforts are biodiversity-smart by incorporating models of the ecological processes that maintain diversity into management plans.
Biodiversity is the variety of life. Most of the diversity of life on our planet lives in our oceans. Biodiversity provides ecosystem functions and services that sustain life in the ocean, and on land, and in human societies. We discover biodiversity in Canada’s coastal ecosystems, and we develop and test the scientific frameworks that allow us to understand what we’re seeing in nature, how it’s changing, and what that change might imply for the future.
This work contributes to Canada’s biodiversity inventories, allowing Canada to contribute to global inventories. We also work to ensure that conservation and management efforts are biodiversity-smart by incorporating models of the ecological processes that maintain diversity into management plans.
A) Biodiversity is intricately connected to the functioning of ecosystems and the benefits that ecological systems provide to people. We work on these connections, and the feedbacks in ecological systems that maintain biodiversity and its relationship with ecosystem functions. Illustration: Sylvia Heredia.
B) Great Blue Herons forage in eelgrass meadows at Tsawwassen, BC, feeding diverse invertebrates that live in eelgrass. To learn more about the connection between eelgrass and Great Blue Herons, check out Huang et al Oikos 2015. Photo credit: Andrew Huang.
Understanding a warming world from first principles
Within the tiniest microbe and the largest blue whale, shared metabolic processes make life possible by converting material resources to energy. Metabolic rate is considered one of life’s most fundamental processes - the engine of life. Though ecological systems are complex and diverse, there are some remarkably general responses to warming temperature. We use these general patterns to deepen our understanding of how warming changes our world around us, and to work towards mechanistic projections for a future, warmer world.
Within the tiniest microbe and the largest blue whale, shared metabolic processes make life possible by converting material resources to energy. Metabolic rate is considered one of life’s most fundamental processes - the engine of life. Though ecological systems are complex and diverse, there are some remarkably general responses to warming temperature. We use these general patterns to deepen our understanding of how warming changes our world around us, and to work towards mechanistic projections for a future, warmer world.
Coupled human-natural systems
Humans are a driving force of ecological change on our planet, and we also depend on robust, diverse and resilient ecosystems for our wellbeing. We try to understand these interdependencies in our work in tropical forests, Canadian fisheries, seagrass meadows, Arctic coastal ecosystems.
Humans are a driving force of ecological change on our planet, and we also depend on robust, diverse and resilient ecosystems for our wellbeing. We try to understand these interdependencies in our work in tropical forests, Canadian fisheries, seagrass meadows, Arctic coastal ecosystems.
Information theory
In ecological science, as well as in policy, we so often consider climate change impacts as separately from biodiversity change. This is evidence in the highest forms of our policy platforms, and it’s also true in our most fundamental ecological theories. We have found this frustrating, and we believe a possible unification may come through synthesis of theories and concepts based in information (e.g. biodiversity science) and those based in metabolism (e.g., ecosystem science) can be unified. We are exploring this unification, and took the first steps with a synthesis of the overlooked role of information in ecological thinking (O'Connor et al. 2019).
In ecological science, as well as in policy, we so often consider climate change impacts as separately from biodiversity change. This is evidence in the highest forms of our policy platforms, and it’s also true in our most fundamental ecological theories. We have found this frustrating, and we believe a possible unification may come through synthesis of theories and concepts based in information (e.g. biodiversity science) and those based in metabolism (e.g., ecosystem science) can be unified. We are exploring this unification, and took the first steps with a synthesis of the overlooked role of information in ecological thinking (O'Connor et al. 2019).
From O'Connor et al. 2019. Four steps of information processing. (A) Information processing can occur within a closed feedback loop (a -> b -> c-> d), or by accepting information from outside the loop (e -> a-> b -> c…) and can lead to information that is used by the processing systems outside the focal system (e.g., c -> h or c->g). Information processing requires an observer, which often constitutes the reception and use of information. Inputs to any processing system may be information instantiated in chemical, electrical, energetic, or material structures. (B) Coral reef fish use olfactory (Osterhinchus doederleini) (Gerlach et al., 2007) and auditory (Gordon et al., 2018) information to relocate their home reef. The information stored in the sound or chemical patterns in the water are received by fish sensory systems—themselves information systems—and used to guide behavioral responses such as swimming to the reef and remaining there, and the recruitment of fish to these reefs contributes to structure at population and community levels.