Methodological Problems in the Modeling and Analysis of Ecological Systems

Abstract

I would like to give you an overview of basic ecological modeling and analysis problems by discussing three things. First, I will try to explain the general attitude of systems-oriented ecologists towards their subject matter. This is a different perspective from that of many here, and we will almost certainly fail to understand each other if you imagine us to be, say, economists with an interest in animals. Second, I will review those structural characteristics of ecological systems which have made their analysis particularly difficult. We like to think that it is at least in part these difficulties which have kept us rather behind the rest of you in a number of methods-related areas. Finally, I'll give a brief picture of the kinds of dynamic and stability behavior which we encounter in real and model ecological systems, using as examples cases presently under investigation at IIASA and' available for study at this workshop.