Overview

Understanding how complex, multi-scale biological systems operate in a constantly changing environment is a challenging scientific problem. One important issue is that the relevant scales span separate fields of research, such as genetics, cellular biology, physiology, neurobiology, and ecology—disciplines that use largely different methods and experimental models. This is an important limitation because biological systems are inherently multi-scale and involve complex coordination across scales. Moreover, we currently lack the theoretical and experimental framework to understand the impact of an unpredictable environment on organismal and supra-organismal responses. 

Mathematical approaches will play a critical role in modeling and predicting the complex, often multifaceted effects of environmental variability on biology across scales. Adapting existing mathematical models and developing new methods to capture the multi-scale effects of environmental variability is not a trivial task, especially when we are only beginning to document its impact on biological systems across scales.

This workshop will bring together 75 scientists working across the fields of experimental biology, mathematics, theoretical biology, and experts in complex systems to discuss the effects of photoperiod, temperature, seasonality, and other types of environmental variability on the function of the nervous system, on organismal physiology, and on super-organismal responses, such as those that occur at the level of ecology and population dynamics.