MMT24-EBD-01 - Desarrollo de un modelo de ecosistema es

To improve our predictions of the effects of global-change drivers across ecological scales, we need “upscaling” models that integrate processes from individual interactions to ecosystem functioning. However, such upscaling is challenging because the necessary dynamic models that replicate the complexity of natural systems, i.e., digital twins, must couple high-output biological computing and detailed ecological knowledge on key components of a target system. The present project proposes to utilize decades of ecological data collected in Doñana Natural Area, coupled with advanced methods in computational biology, to develop a scalable dynamic model, a digital twin, for Doñana. ICOM has three main objectives: (i) To create a dynamic database structure to obtain abiotic and biotic information from Doñana Natural Area (ii) To develop new methods in data integration based on high-output latent state computing (iii) To develop a digital twin that scales up the effects of interacting global-change on terrestrial ecosystems in Doñana. This unprecedented coordination of digital technology, empirical data integration, and complex-system modelling will be achieved through a collaboration between EBD (PI) and the Computational Biology and Complex Systems Group at UPC (co-PI). Digital twins are completely lacking in Mediterranean ecosystems, and this collaboration has the potential to position the CSIC as a leader in predictive ecology, pioneering a new generation of mechanistic forecasting research.