Mapping Evidence to Theory in Ecology

Meetings

Workshop I

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Knowledge Synthesis in Ecology

4 – 6 November 2024

Convenor:

Tina Heger (Berlin)

Mobilizing scientific ecological knowledge is key for addressing the global biodiversity crisis. It is far from obvious, however, how to best approach this aim. In an interdisciplinary setting including ecologists, data scientists, computational linguists and philosophers, the current Resident Group “Mapping Evidence to Theory in Ecology: Addressing the Challenges of Generalization and Causality” explores ways for combining ecological theory represented in the form of causal network graphs with evidence found in scientific papers. During the first day of the workshop, the group will present their current state of discussions and demonstrate preliminary results, opening the floor for feedback. The second day is dedicated to bringing in new perspectives from fellows newly arriving in Bielefeld, as well as from further workshop participants. Both days will provide plenty of time for discussions and hands-on sessions. On the third day, the fellows will explore joint next steps.

Hackathon

Hackathon: EcoHack Hackathon: EcoHack - AI & LLM Hackathon for Applications in Evidence-based Ecological Research & Practice

20 – 22 January 2025

Convenor:

Jennifer D'Souza (Hannover)

Can artificial intelligence help to make scientific literature for ecology more accessible, make better use of data and promote communication between researchers and practitioners? To answer this question, the ZiF research group ‘Mapping Evidence to Theory in Ecology. Addressing the Challenges of Generalization and Causality’ hosted a hackathon, a programming competition, from 20 to 22 January. There was a great deal of interest.

Workshop 2

Workshop “From Ecological Knowledge to Restoration Action: Developing the Conceptual and Technological Basis for a Toolbox”

22 – 24 January 2025

Convenor:

Tina Heger

Making ecological knowledge usable is key for addressing the global biodiversity crisis. It is far from obvious, however, how to best approach this aim. In an interdisciplinary setting including ecologists, data scientists, computational linguists, and philosophers, the ZiF Resident Group "Mapping Evidence to Theory in Ecology" currently explores ways for extracting ecological knowledge from scientific papers and other sources (e.g. local and indigenous knowledge), representing it in the form of causal network graphs, linking it to evidence and providing means to interact with this integrated knowledge. The envisioned goal is the ‘EcoWeaveR’, a digital platform for synthesizing and representing ecological knowledge that can better support theorizing and restoration action in ecology.

Workshop 3

Workshop “Mapping Evidence to Theory in Ecology”

24 – 28 February 2025

Convenor:

Tina Heger

Ecology as a scientific discipline is expected to provide the knowledge needed for solving the biodiversity crisis. Accordingly, ecological research generates a steeply increasing amount of data and empirical findings, aimed at increasing knowledge about ecological systems. However, the translation of knowledge gained in single empirical studies into more general knowledge about ecological systems and into practically useful knowledge is not straightforward. Ecological systems are highly complex, and ecological processes are strongly context dependent.

During the past six months the group “Mapping Evidence to Theory in Ecology. Addressing the Challenges of Generalization and Causality” has been working towards ideas and tools to synthesize the results of large amounts of case studies and to make actual ecological knowledge more accessible to researchers and practitioners. In interdisciplinary conceptual discussions on ecological, philosophical, technical and other challenges for synthesizing and representing ecological knowledge they developed a digital toolbox, called EcoWeaver and its core application TReK.

In their closing workshop the fellows and guests of the research group will come together to wrap up the group’s results and plan for future cooperation.