### Lecturer

#### Stefano Allesina , University of Chicago

By Stefano Allesina (University of Chicago)

Since the work of Robert May in 1972, the local asymptotic stability of large ecological systems has been a focus of theoretical ecology.Here I review May's work in the light of Random Matrix Theory, the field of mathematics devoted to the study of large matrices whose coefficients are randomly sampled from distributions with given characteristics. I show how May's celebrated stability criterion'' can be derived using Random Matrix Theory, and how extensions of the so-called circular law for the limiting distribution of the eigenvalues of large random matrix can further our understanding of ecological systems. I conclude by enumerating a number of challenges, whose solution is going to greatly improve our ability to understand the dynamics of large cological networks.

Name University Dates of visit
Stefano Allesina University of Chicago 10/07/2014 - 10/07/2014
Total Guests : 1
Name University Dates of visit
Total Guests : 0