Upcoming "What's new lunch" - Thursday 18 May and seminar

[Quantitative Life Sciences]

Dear All,

The next "What's new" lunch will take place on Thursday, 18 May at 12:30
in the Common Area, 2nd floor, ex SISSA building (Via Beirut).

This "What's new lunch" will also feature an informal seminar by Guillermo Abramson, Senior Associate of the QLS section

You're most cordially invited to join.


Title: "A simple model of megafauna extinction"

Speaker: Guillermo Abramson - Instituto Balseiro and Centro Atómico Bariloche,  Argentina

Abstract:

I will discuss an ongoing project on the mathematical modelling of the
mysterious extinction of South American megafauna at the end of the
Pleistocene. The phenomenon was coincident with two profound
modifications of the ecosystem: the environmental change of the last
glaciations and the human invasion. We have studied a simple model in
an attempt to capture the main ingredients and agents. Our first
results show that the presence of predators triggers the extinction of
the megafauna without the need of an "overkill". We also stress the
need to assess the combined effects of anthropic and environmental
factors in the dynamics. Finally, we analyzed the role of the system's
size on the time to extinction, and obtained a good agreement with
paleontological records. Title: "Big fauna extinction"



***************************************************************************
To find out more about "What's new lunches" please read below:

We are launching a new recurrent event in the QLS group, called "What's
new" lunches

Where: Markov's lounge aka Common Area, old SISSA building (Via Beirut),
2nd floor

When: Once a week at 12:30

What: Bring your own lunch, share it if you will, munch and discuss
about what's new in physics/biology/computer-science/economics and
science/technology in general. It must be exciting!

Who: Each time one of us, from faculty to master students, chooses a
subject for discussion and acts as a moderator by introducing the theme
and spurring the debate.

Why: Do you really need to ask ?

-- 
Erica Sarnataro
Group Secretary
Quantitative Life Sciences
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Trieste,  Italy
Tel. +39-040-2240623
e-mail: qls at ictp.it