TITLE: Information based ecological network analysis for environmental management.

ABSTRACT: 

Humans live in a rich, diverse, and complex world that provides needed resources but is ultimately bound by biophysical limits.  We have shown in the book, Flourishing within the Limits to Growth, how it is possible to mimic patterns and processes in nature to achieve a more sustainable future.  Win-win situations are possible that exhibit greater resource efficiencies and mutualisms.  This is based on some simple wisdom such as Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but will also require a concerted effort by leaders to prioritize environmental stewardship.  This approach fits consistently with another objective to reign in economic speculation and promote an economy of productivity (gradient formation in a thermodynamic sense), which we have named regenerative economics.  Our approach is based on using networks, particularly flow networks, to model and assess the reticulated interconnections in complex social-economic systems.  Ten principles of a regenerative economics have been proposed that deal with the input-output exchanges as well as the roles and relations within the network.  This presentation will overview an information-based approach to assess system robustness which is a core tenet of the regenerative approach.  Applications to socio-ecological systems are provided. 

BIOGRAPHY: 

Brian D. Fath is Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson University (Maryland, USA) and Senior Research Scholar within the Advanced Systems Analysis Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Laxenburg, Austria).  He teaches courses in ecosystem ecology, environmental biology, networks, and human ecology and sustainability.  Prof. Fath has also taught courses on ecological networks and modeling in Portugal, China, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Croatia, France, Russia, and South Africa. He holds visiting faculty appointments at the School of Environment, Beijing Normal University and at the State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences both in Beijing, China.  He was a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at Parthenope University of Naples, Italy in spring 2012 and recipient of the Prigogine Medal in 2016.

Prof. Fath has published more than 150 research papers, reports, and book chapters. He co-authored three books: Flourishing Within the Limits to Growth: Following Nature’s Way (2015),Ecological Modelling (4th edition, 2011), and A New Ecology: Systems Perspective (2007). He is also Editor-in-Chief for the journal Ecological Modelling; Editor-in-Chief for Encyclopedia of Ecology (2nd edition, to be published 2018); Secretary of the International Society for Ecological Modelling; Chair of the Ecosystem Dynamics Focus Research Group in the Community Surface Modeling Dynamics System; and, member and past Chair of Baltimore County Commission on Environmental Quality.

For more information, please contact Prof. Ursula Scharler at <scharler@ukzn.ac.za>.