Exploring the impacts of anthropogenic change on networks using microbial microcosms

Humans are rapidly altering natural ecosystems, often resulting in fragmentation of remaining habitats. While consequent reductions in species richness and changes in composition are now well documented, the impacts on ecological networks remain poorly studied. This is important because network structure influences ongoing ecosystem stability and provision of ecosystem services. This project will explore how habitat fragmentation impacts network persistence in relation to the types of species interactions present (e.g. mutualistic, ammensal, competitive, parasitic). For example, fragmentation should have strong negative impacts on obligate mutualistic networks than on antagonistic networks, because isolated habitat fragments require simultaneous (re)colonisation by both obligate partners. The student will investigate these questions using a combination of synthetic microbial community microcosms (10.1093/jambio/lxae158) and agent-based modelling approaches (10.1098/rstb.2007.2061). The microcosm approach provides the opportunity to experimentally test how habitat fragmentation affects ecological networks in a way that would be extremely challenging in real ecosystems. This work has the potential to inform planning of habitats to conserve or restore, particularly in terms of spatial habitat arrangements. The combination of computational and in vitro models can be adapted to particular ecosystems to explore the outcomes of different conservation management decisions.