Mathematical model helps bridge gap between lab and 'real' world
[Date: 2008-09-12]

Scientists from the UK and the US have created a mathematical model that can predict the outcome of laboratory-based biodiversity studies. Their goal was to find whether the results of biodiversity experiments conducted in miniature, man-made ecosystems can truly be applied to real-world phenomena.
To find out why some places show greater biodiversity than others, one could spend decades in the field studying one part of a very complex system as it evolves. The more efficient alternative is to create mini-ecosystems in a laboratory in which many generations of bacteria may be observed in a number of situations.
This simplified approach to studying biodiversity has some inherent problems, one of which is that there is a tenuous relationship between experiments in the laboratory and the broader questions they seek to address. It is hard to tell whether results are specific to one lab, or one particular experiment, or if they are 'true' and can be applied generally.