Bill Silvert writes: > As for the statement that "the state of practice of eco-modeling beyond > simplistic (and wrong) Lotka-Volterra-like things is somewhat of a nasty > business" is partly true - the field is a mess. But the LV equations are > greatly underrated. Although they are a poor representation of most systems > from a purely quantitative point of view, most continuous models are > generalisations of LV systems and they are great for developing a > qualitative understanding of ecosystem dynamics.
Exactly so. The goal of mathematical modelling is not prediction but understanding. Complexly coupled systems that are critically dependent on initial conditions are inherently unpredictable, but that doesn't mean that the time spent in exploring the governing equations is a waste of time. In fact, there is no other way to gain an understanding of a complex system's behavior. As Robert H. MacArthur said, "Every mathematical model is a lie -- but one that hopefully allows us to glimpse a bit of the truth." Wirt Atmar
