Lunch Lectures Vazquez - Poking our Ecological Ignorance

 Lunch Lecture series "Ignorance - what we don't know", January 26, 2017
Ignorance is at the core of science. We scientists pose questions which are expressions of our ignorance, and work hard to try to answer them. This effort usually generates some answers and, perhaps most importantly, many new questions. During my talk I will discuss research in my own field, ecology, to illustrate how this work has improved our understanding of how nature works, but at the same time how it has opened numerous new questions. From the dynamics of populations to the nature of ecological niches and the influence of biodiversity on the functioning of ecosystems, ecology is a fascinating case in point for the interplay between research, knowledge and ignorance in science.