Investigations of sustainability and resilience using a network of networks approach

ABS Seminar co-hosted with the Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences

Presented by Brian Fath, Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Townson University (website)

Abstract: Sustainability is a system-level property of the structure and function of the system in question. Key features of sustainable systems are energy and material resource flows and waste recovery and the presence and maintenance of autocatalytic cycles that build, dissipate, and regenerate resource gradients. A resilient system is one that is able to successfully navigate all stages of the adaptive cycle. This view focuses on sustaining life processes rather than piecemeal solutions to specific symptoms. In this study, network analysis is used to assess the impact of an invasive species on the food web in a series of Nebraska reservoirs. Introduction of the invasive species is mediated by a social network of anglers moving from place-to-place. Using this approach it is possible to promote management options to control the spread of the invasive species.