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GDR THEOMODIVE - integrative science for the study of biodiversity

The erosion of biodiversity is, alongside with climate change, one of the greatest challenges that societies will face during the present and following centuries. This is why integrative scientific approaches to study biodiversity are rising and links between research and decision-making should be reinforced by the recently created intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. However, the scientific community dedicated to the study of biodiversity does not yet have access to powerful integrative tools, such as those available to climatologists for predicting climate changes, like global circulation models.

Integrating multiple factors of biodiversity change, multiple taxonomic and functional groups, and the effects of biodiversity changes on the functioning of ecological and social systems for biodiversity modelling is still a major scientific challenge. Debating the pertinence, feasibility and limitations of such integrative models of biodiversity is thus urgently needed.

The GDR Thèorie et Modèlisation de la Biodiversité is dedicated providing the French scientific community with a platform where different methodologies can be compared and the research efforts of different groups can be coordinated to catalyse the elaboration of a solid body of fundamental theory, as well as predictive models of biodiversity changes and their impacts for both ecological and social systems.

The six main themes of research of the GDR are centred on key questions that are already strongly addressed by the French scientific community. The working groups linked to each of these themes bring together research teams at the forefront of relevant theoretical research, who are recognised by the international research community. By combining the strengths of their research teams, working groups of the GDR will stimulate scientific debates, the confrontation of different theoretical developments and their application to real data, factors that contribute to the emergence of solid and powerful theory.

Centred around studying biodiversity from both theoretical and modelling perspectives, the role of the GDR is largely complementary to that of the GDR Ecologie Statistique, which focuses on the evaluation, application and development of statistical approaches for ecology and evolution.