Research challenges in modelling ecosystems

Ecosystems and their biodiversity have to be protected and preserved as sources of services and goods. The human population controls and modifies ecosystems to improve its health conditions and welfare. The consequences of human activities should be carefully monitored and ecosystems should be managed to protect all of the species and preserve their functioning. The development of strategies for ecosystem management benefits from the use of computational techniques to model the dynamics of species that interact with their abiotic and biotic environment. Life scientists and computer scientists need to work together to define and analyse ecosystem models. However, there is a multifaceted gap between the approaches used in life science and those used in computer science. Such gap is both cultural and technical, and results in a number of challenges. In this paper we identify these challenges and provide technical and cultural proposals for solving them.