Linking Community and Ecosystem Dynamics

Organisers

• Prof. Matty P. Berg (Chair; VU University, Amsterdam / GELIFES, University of Groningen)
• Prof. Han Olff (GELIFES, University of Groningen)

• Dr. Magdalena Kozielska-Reid (RSEE, University of Groningen)

Under auspices of the research schools RSEE and PE&RC

Scope of the course

The research fields community and ecosystem ecology have diverged more or less independently over the last decennia. In community ecology progress is made in understanding shifts in community composition under the influence of environmental change and how these shifts can be explained by functional trait approaches of component species. Also, the importance of positive feedbacks in community dynamics is more and more appreciated, and merged with trophic interactions in ecological networks. Studies in ecosystem ecology traditionally have a strong focus on energy and nutrient fluxes and how deviation in these fluxes affect ecosystem functioning and stability. Recent studies reveal tight links between these sub-disciplines that enforce us to rethink how communities and ecosystems interact.

This course focuses on theoretical concepts, such as autocatalytic loops and positive and negative feedbacks between organisms in ecological networks as well as the importance of non-trophic interactions by ecosystem engineers. The course will address how these principles can be used to link communities to ecosystems enabling a better understanding of how environmental changes affect community and ecosystem dynamics. Students will construct ecological networks of their own study system or based on literature data and analyse these using structural equation modelling.

Course Set-up

The course is composed of a series of lectures, poster sessions, hands-on practical sessions, and finalized with a debating session.

• Poster session: Prior to the course, participants submit a poster of their work (A4-size) in PDF, which will be included in the digital course reader. The poster contains your name and affiliation, title and short description of the research project (including concepts) with one highlight (something exciting) and the reason you want to participate in this course. During the course, participants briefly pitch their research (maximum 3 slides) and indicate where they would like to receive input from the course participants and lecturers.
• Lectures and discussion: Each day starts with a key speaker who will give a lecture on one of the key course topics (covering both general theory and own research). After the lecture we'll have a discussion which is convened by three participants who challenge the speaker on the lecture and two papers that the speaker submitted which are related to the topic of the lecture (participants will receive these before the course to prepare them self).
• Group activities: During various times during the course, participants will be split into working groups, which will work on specific group assignments associated with the topic of the course (designing ecological networks and analysing these). The exact topics of these activities will be selected by the participants. Each group will present the results to all course participants the following day. Group activities will be supervised by the lecturers and course organizers (who are present during the whole course), so that the students can optimally benefit from experts who are among the leaders in their fields.
• Debating session: We will debate propositions that have been brought forward by speakers, students or have appeared to be a point of discussion during the course.

Preliminary Programme

The final programme for the course will be published in due time.

Sunday 18 October:

Monday 19 October:

Tuesday 20 October:

Wednesday 21 October :

Thursday 22 October:

Friday 23 October:

General Information

Required Knowledge & Preparation

Course participants need to read some articles that will be made available beforehand and prepare some challenging questions as well as prepare a poster in PDF format on their own work.

Course Material

Please bring your own laptop to the course.

Course Credits

2 ECTS

Location

The course will be held in the fieldstation of the University of Groningen, The Herdershut, on Schiermonnikoog.

Duration

5 Days; arrival Sunday, course end Friday at 13.00 (Boat departure 13:45).

Costs

The registration fee for all participants belonging to the RSEE and the co-organizing research school PE&RC pay € 350. All other participants, including participants from EPS, VLAG, SENSE, etcetera pay € 500. This includes lodging, meals, and the course material at the course venue. The reduced course fee is possible due to a contribution of the co-organizing Research Schools.

Registration will open soon!

Information

Magdalena Kozielska-Reid
Email: gelifes-phdcoordinator rug.nl