Talk details
Title: Challenges in forecasting future biodiversity collapse in the face of climate change.
Speaker: Gaurav Baruah, PhD (University of Zurich, Switzerland), Postdoctoral Scientist, Eawag, Switzerland
Date: 14 May 2022
Time: 6 PM (IST)
Abstract
Tipping points in complex systems, from financial markets to ecological networks, imply risks of unwanted collapses. One of the major challenges in the field of ecology, conservation biology or financial markets is to forecast collapses that could occur abruptly and suddenly. One field of research is uncovering generic empirical indicators of the proximity to such critical collapses. Although sudden shifts in complex systems will inevitably continue to surprise us, emerging fields offers new approaches for anticipating critical transitions from forecasting financial market collapses to predicting collapses in biodiversity. There have been statistical tools that have been developed to predict such future collapses of biodiversity. However, the utility of such tools has rarely been tested in real-world scenarios. These tools commonly known as “Early warning signals” (EWS) could be useful in forecasting stability of future biodiversity to changes in the climate. Here, I will focus on discussing about the possible utility of such tools in forecasting biodiversity collapses to climate change.
Speaker’s bio
Dr. Gaurav Baruah is a post-doctoral scientist working at the Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Eawag, Switzerland. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and BS-MS from IISER Kolkata, India. He has a broad interest in topics spanning theoretical ecology and evolutionary biology. However, he is more interested in understanding mechanisms that maintain biodiversity at the temporal and spatial scales. He published in several peer-reviewed journals and conferences.