Olivier Maury (IRD-ICEMASA & UCT) will present the CTMP Colloquium entitled, "Can we build a 'physics-like' theory of Marine ecosystems?"  

Physics is extremely successful in describing the non-living universe.  We wonder what characterizes the mechanistic approach used in physics and identify the domains where such an approach could be used in marine ecology.  Following, we propose a mathematical model of marine ecosystems' dynamics. (APECOSM), which integrates mechanistically through organization levels.  The model rests on invariant properties that appear at individual and school levels, where symmetry breaks in spatial organization occur.  It represents the transfer of energy in an eight-dimensional state-space including the standard 3D space, three physiological dimensions, one school level dimension and one life history dimension.  It is based on a rigorous treatment of individual bioenergetics as well as key biological and ecological processes.  We present the numerical implementation  of APECOSM to model generic pelagic communities in the global ocean and project their evolution with climate change.