Exploring shifts in biogeochemical cycles and mass extinction events through slow-fast dynamical systems • IMSI

Description

Through data analysis and modeling, this Interdisciplinary Research Cluster (IRC) seeks to establish a connection between substantial shifts in biogeochemical cycles and mass extinction events. The challenge lies in reconciling the “fast” ecological timescales, typically ranging from 1 to 100 years, with the “slow” timescale of global biogeochemical cycles, which operate on the order of 10,000 years or more. The temporal discord between ecological dynamics and climate systems, influenced by feedback loops, necessitates the development of a mathematical framework for studying (paleo)climate tipping points related to mass extinction events. This framework specifically addresses the dynamics of “slow-fast” systems.

This project represents a continuation of the research conducted in our previous IRC, ‘Climate Tipping Phenomena in Non-autonomous Paleoecosystems,’ and involves collaboration across the Mathematics of Mass Extinctions Network.

Organizers

I S

Ivan Sudakow School of Mathematics and Statistics, The Open University

S P

Sergei Petrovskii School of Computing and Mathematic Sciences, University of Leicester

C M

Corinne Myers Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico

Participants

P G

Punit Gandhi Department of Applied Mathematics, Virginia Commonwealth University

S K T

Sandra Kirtland Turner Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside

R L

Rowan Lockwood Department of Geology, William & Mary

C M

Corinne Myers Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico

S P

Sergei Petrovskii Department of Mathematics, University of Leicester

D R

Daniel Rothman Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT

P R

Parimita Roy Department of Mathematics, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, India

I S

Ivan Sudakow School of Mathematics and Statistics, The Open University

H H Z

Hao Helen Zhang Department of Mathematics, University of Arizona