QLS Seminar Series - Justin Marleau

Elements of an ecology of material conditions

Justin Marleau, McGill University
Tuesday December 8, 12-1pm
Zoom Link: https:/mcgill.zoom.us/j/91589192037

Abstract: Ecosystems are awash with substances: a handful of soil is filled with dead organic material, water, mineralized nutrients like phosphates and nitrates, signalling molecules, antibiotics, some plastic residues and other materials. Some of these substances, like the nutrients and organic material, are consumed by organisms for their growth, maintenance and reproduction and are considered to be resources. It is these substances that ecological theory has focused the most on, and much modelling has focused on understanding the flows of resources across time and space.

Nevertheless, there is growing interest in the non-resource effects of substances in ecosystems that are derived from organisms, the abiotic environment and/or through anthropogenic processes and their interactions. These effects include acting as a source of information and as a modifier to the physical and chemical environment, though how to include them in resource-based theories is generally difficult. In this talk, I discuss a potential framework that utilizes the idea of ecological currencies to help integrate the material conditions of ecosystems into a more coherent whole. I provide a few modelling case studies to illustrate the potential of this framework and suggest further avenues of research.