Mikhail Tikhonov - “Microbial Ecology as a New Frontier for Theoretical Physics”

Stanford University
APPLIED PHYSICS/PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
4:30 p.m. on campus in Hewlett Teaching Center, Rm. 201
Mikhail Tikhonov
Washington University at St. Louis
“Microbial Ecology as a New Frontier for Theoretical Physics”
Life on Earth is predominantly microbial; complex microbial ecosystems run our planet and shape our health. Thanks to a recent technological revolution, we are discovering that our macroscopic intuition about evolution and ecology is faltering at the microbial scale, making us question some of the most basic concepts, such as “species,” “fitness,” and even “organism.” But how else could we describe these systems, if not in these terms? I will argue that this exciting challenge is one where the methods of theoretical physics have the most to contribute. I will then discuss one way to make this intriguing question precise, investigating simple mathematical models whose large-N regime can be seen as describing both ecological and evolutionary phenomena. This approach blurs the boundary between a simple ecosystem and a complex organism, and may pave the road towards non-discrete generalizations of the familiar discrete notions.

[@MarcoPrevedello92]

Great topic! Thanks for sharing! Would it be possible to have a list of references and /or the slides? Thank you very much in advance!

[@s1va3209]

He is wrong. Genomes are not based on seasonal environments and speciation is not "efficiency" driven.