The Complex Environmental Systems Lab (CESL) is a research facility on UBC’s Okanagan Campus. We study ecosystems and landscapes as complex systems, building models that can help us to better understand the interconnectedness of humans and their environment. We are affiliated with the UBC Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystem Services (BRAES).
We typically work at the scale of regional landscapes. We view landscapes as complex mosaics of interacting components, linked via processes occuring across multiple scales of space and time. Our approach is systems oriented, acknowledging that all parts of a landscape are interconnected. We work in marine, coastal and terrestrial environments.
Applications of our research include future scenario building, development of decision-support tools for multi-objective ecosystem management and the creation of new complexity-based ecological indicators. We work in close collaboration with non-academic partners from government and industry sectors.
Our research is founded in complex systems science and we work actively to advance the field of ecological complexity.
You are invited to peruse our Projects page for more information on current research in the lab.
The construction of our lab, and the equipment we use, was financed by the Province of British Columbia Knowledge Foundation and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. We opened our doors in 2013.
