Although no single mathematical model can capture all the important subtleties of real-world ecosystems, modelers nonetheless hope their simplified worlds will reveal some principles of how nature works. The most effective way to do science, whether you use models or not, is to ask good, concise questions. Mathematical models are a rigorous way of posing questions. Each of the half dozen visiting scientists brought a model to present on the first day of the workshop. During the second and third days, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows cycled in pairs from one investigator to another, getting a detailed introduction to each approach.
Mathematical models are a rigorous way of posing questions.
The GEM model is unique in that it deals in a balanced way with processes that take place both in plants and in soils. Usually the objective is to look at the results of the model and not at its internal mechanisms. The workshop will reconvene this summer so the students can present their projects and veteran modelers can continue their dialogue on how to describe the important features of nature in mathematical language. Processes within an ecosystem vary from season to season, from year to year. Because even carefully controlled experiments yield different results at different times, scientists who draw their conclusions from one season's work may very well miss the ecological point.