We operate an international seminar series on Theoretical Ecology via Zoom since September, 2020. With some exceptions, the hour-long events are held on every other Tuesday at 9 a.m. Pacific Time, which corresponds to 5 p.m. in London and 6 p.m. in Paris most of the time. Our invited lecturer speaks for cc. 20-30 minutes. The rest of the hour is for questions and discussions, which are often lively. The seminars are recorded and posted on our YouTube channel. We send out notifications before each lecture via email and Twitter. The webinar is organised by György Barabás (dysordys@gmail.com), Géza Meszéna (meszena.geza@ttk.elte.hu) and Chris Terry (christopher.terry@biology.ox.ac.uk). Any comment, or suggestion are welcome.
Zoom link (unless stated otherwise): https://liu-se.zoom.us/j/63158449287
YouTube channel with the lecture videos and teaching material, etc.
How to subscribe for email reminders?
Scheduled lectures
Andrea Tabi (ICM-CSIC): Stochastic Origins of Metabolic Scaling Laws
14 April, 2026
Metabolic scaling links energy use and body size, yet observed exponents vary widely across species. In this seminar, I present a framework in which such scaling emerges naturally from stochastic cellular dynamics, where metabolic rates arise from the interplay between growth, maintenance, and dissipative fluctuations. In other words, variability in scaling exponents reflects intrinsic thermodynamic and stochastic constraints. Furthermore, an information-theoretic perspective is introduced that identifies an information-neutral regime in which macroscopic behavior becomes minimally sensitive to microscopic noise. In this regime, species spanning a wide range of sizes converge to a universal scaling exponent close to Kleiber’s law.
Together, these results explain the coexistence of diversity and universality in metabolic scaling, suggesting that biological scaling laws emerge from the combined effects of stochastic inefficiencies and information loss across scales.
Lisa Buche (ETH)
28 April, 2026
Harman Jaggi (Princeton)
12 May, 2026