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A data-driven framework to model the organism–environment system

Milocco, Lisandro LU and Uller, Tobias LU (2023) In Evolution and Development 25(6). p.439-450
Abstract

Organisms modify their development and function in response to the environment. At the same time, the environment is modified by the activities of the organism. Despite the ubiquity of such dynamical interactions in nature, it remains challenging to develop models that accurately represent them, and that can be fitted using data. These features are desirable when modeling phenomena such as phenotypic plasticity, to generate quantitative predictions of how the system will respond to environmental signals of different magnitude or at different times, for example, during ontogeny. Here, we explain a modeling framework that represents the organism and environment as a single coupled dynamical system in terms of inputs and outputs. Inputs... (More)

Organisms modify their development and function in response to the environment. At the same time, the environment is modified by the activities of the organism. Despite the ubiquity of such dynamical interactions in nature, it remains challenging to develop models that accurately represent them, and that can be fitted using data. These features are desirable when modeling phenomena such as phenotypic plasticity, to generate quantitative predictions of how the system will respond to environmental signals of different magnitude or at different times, for example, during ontogeny. Here, we explain a modeling framework that represents the organism and environment as a single coupled dynamical system in terms of inputs and outputs. Inputs are external signals, and outputs are measurements of the system in time. The framework uses time-series data of inputs and outputs to fit a nonlinear black-box model that allows to predict how the system will respond to novel input signals. The framework has three key properties: it captures the dynamical nature of the organism–environment system, it can be fitted with data, and it can be applied without detailed knowledge of the system. We study phenotypic plasticity using in silico experiments and demonstrate that the framework predicts the response to novel environmental signals. The framework allows us to model plasticity as a dynamical property that changes in time during ontogeny, reflecting the well-known fact that organisms are more or less plastic at different developmental stages.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
environment, evo-devo, modeling, organism, plasticity
in
Evolution and Development
volume
25
issue
6
pages
439 - 450
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85161400694
  • pmid:37277921
ISSN
1520-541X
DOI
10.1111/ede.12449
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f1d138fa-8474-4886-8bfe-7b28db20d5d1
date added to LUP
2023-08-22 14:23:16
date last changed
2024-06-16 09:00:40
@article{f1d138fa-8474-4886-8bfe-7b28db20d5d1,
  abstract     = {{<p>Organisms modify their development and function in response to the environment. At the same time, the environment is modified by the activities of the organism. Despite the ubiquity of such dynamical interactions in nature, it remains challenging to develop models that accurately represent them, and that can be fitted using data. These features are desirable when modeling phenomena such as phenotypic plasticity, to generate quantitative predictions of how the system will respond to environmental signals of different magnitude or at different times, for example, during ontogeny. Here, we explain a modeling framework that represents the organism and environment as a single coupled dynamical system in terms of inputs and outputs. Inputs are external signals, and outputs are measurements of the system in time. The framework uses time-series data of inputs and outputs to fit a nonlinear black-box model that allows to predict how the system will respond to novel input signals. The framework has three key properties: it captures the dynamical nature of the organism–environment system, it can be fitted with data, and it can be applied without detailed knowledge of the system. We study phenotypic plasticity using in silico experiments and demonstrate that the framework predicts the response to novel environmental signals. The framework allows us to model plasticity as a dynamical property that changes in time during ontogeny, reflecting the well-known fact that organisms are more or less plastic at different developmental stages.</p>}},
  author       = {{Milocco, Lisandro and Uller, Tobias}},
  issn         = {{1520-541X}},
  keywords     = {{environment; evo-devo; modeling; organism; plasticity}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{439--450}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Evolution and Development}},
  title        = {{A data-driven framework to model the organism–environment system}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ede.12449}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/ede.12449}},
  volume       = {{25}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}