Using maths to meet environmental challenges

Using maths to meet environmental challenges

Ecological systems on both land and sea face big environmental challenges from human impact but using mathematics is one way to help manage those challenges, says visiting Professor of theoretical ecology Alan Hastings.

Professor Hastings, of the University of California at Davis, is a leading ecologist and evolutionary biologist whose work in computational and mathematical modelling of ecological and biological systems is considered pioneering.

Te Pūnaha Matatini, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence, in association with the University of Auckland, will host Professor Hastings for a public lecture on Tuesday, 8 September.

He will discuss specific environmental challenges that illustrate the general principles of using relatively simple mathematics to help predict and manage ecological challenges such as the maintenance of healthy coral reefs and control of invasive species.

A Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at UC Davis, Professor Hastings is a member of the Center for Population Biology and founding editor-in-chief of the journal Theoretical Ecology.

His lecture, titled Using mathematics to conserve and sustain: tools for environmental management, will be held at 6pm in Building 303, room G23.

ENDS

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