Jennifer Dunne on Reconstructing Ancient Food Webs

Explore the fascinating world of ancient food webs in this 48-minute talk by Jennifer Dunne, Vice President for Science at the Santa Fe Institute. Delve into the reconstruction of trophic networks from fossil records, revealing a hidden order conserved for over half a billion years. Discover how these network models provide insights into energy flow through living systems, evolutionary niche-filling, mass extinctions, and minimal viable ecosystems. Learn about the implications of this research for understanding modern ecology, sustainability, and technological innovation. Gain valuable knowledge on the methods used to reconstruct ancient food webs, including paleobiology, gut content analysis, and functional morphology. Examine the distribution of food webs, network structures, and species extinctions through simulations and robustness studies. Consider the impact of human activities on food webs in the Anthropocene and explore the ecological implications of these complex networks. Reflect on the future of science and the potential applications of food web research in fields such as agriculture, conservation, and venture capital investment.