From ecosystems to equations: Dr Athen Ma’s research on gauging climate change
Dr Athen Ma’s research uses complexity science to uncover how climate change reshapes the hidden networks that connect species, revealing how ecosystems adapt, stabilise, or become vulnerable under environmental stress.
My research primarily focuses on understanding the patterns of organisation and dynamics in networks, ranging from the technological networks that we use for communication, social networks that depict our ties and relationships, and ecological networks that formed by complex species interactions. My research team develops and applies advances in complexity science to examine structural properties in networks, that will help provide invaluable insights into their functions, dynamics, stability and vulnerability. In particular, I am a pioneer in developing interdisciplinary approaches to address key questions in ecology, such as how natural ecosystems respond to climate change. Species do not exist in isolation, but are all part of an interconnected habitat whereby they interact through a variety of processes, including predation, competition, parasitic or mutualistic relationships. Climate change is likely to cause the population of vulnerability species to decline, resulting a rippling effect across an ecosystem as the remaining species adapt their diet and behaviour under an increasingly stressed environment.
Our recent projects have merged physical sciences and ecology to examine the impact of drought on stream food webs following a significant loss in biodiversity. We found that all the remaining species undergo substantial dietary shifts, revealing for the first time how these compensatory dynamics among species have helped conserve key structural properties in these ecosystems, which are crucial to maintaining their stability (Figure 1). We are currently working towards new methodologies to predict how species interactions may change in the face of different environmental stressors, such as warming, heatwaves or acidification. Mathematical models and machine learning techniques are being applied to simulate how the interactions among species evolve over time, which will enable us to generate accurate forecasts on the overall ecosystem response under the rapidly changing climate, providing vital scientific information needed for conservation investment, intervention and policymaking.
Dr Athen Ma is Senior Lecturer, you can find more information on her profile. She is part of the Centre for Human-Centred Computing.