Simon A. Levin
YOU?
Author Swipe
View article: Interpretable early warnings using machine learning in an online game-experiment
Interpretable early warnings using machine learning in an online game-experiment Open
Stemming from physics and later applied to other fields such as ecology, the theory of critical transitions suggests that some regime shifts are preceded by statistical early warning signals. Reddit’s r/place experiment, a large-scale soci…
View article: Heterogeneous conditions and power law robustness in intergenerational resource transfers
Heterogeneous conditions and power law robustness in intergenerational resource transfers Open
Organisms in nature and humans in socioeconomic systems alike face tradeoffs between selfish consumption of resources and investment in the welfare of their offspring. Previous work across the disciplines of biology and economics has sough…
View article: Spatio–temporal modelling of <i>in vitro</i> influenza A virus infection: the impact of defective interfering particles on type I interferon response
Spatio–temporal modelling of <i>in vitro</i> influenza A virus infection: the impact of defective interfering particles on type I interferon response Open
Defective interfering particles (DIPs) are incomplete viral genomes that modulate infection by competing with wild–type viruses and activating innate immunity. How DIPs interact with type I interferon (IFN) in spatially structured environm…
View article: Symbiosis emergence and abandonment in nature: a coordination game approach
Symbiosis emergence and abandonment in nature: a coordination game approach Open
We employ an n-player coordination game to model mutualism emergence and abandonment. We illustrate our findings in the context of the host--host interactions among plants in plant-mycorrhizal fungi (MF) mutualisms. The coordination game p…
View article: Space, time and altruism in pandemics and the climate emergency
Space, time and altruism in pandemics and the climate emergency Open
Climate change is a global emergency, as was the COVID-19 pandemic. Why was our collective response to COVID-19 so much stronger than our response to the climate emergency, to date? We hypothesize that the answer has to do with the scale o…
View article: Severe water crisis in southern Spain under expanding irrigated agriculture: A multidimensional drought analysis
Severe water crisis in southern Spain under expanding irrigated agriculture: A multidimensional drought analysis Open
The Axarquía region in southern Spain, a hotspot of avocado and mango production in Europe, underwent an extreme water crisis in 2019–2024. Reservoir levels dropped below the 8% outlet threshold and groundwater in the main aquifer dropped …
View article: Global stability and tipping point prediction in a coral–algae model using landscape–flux theory
Global stability and tipping point prediction in a coral–algae model using landscape–flux theory Open
Coral reef ecosystems are remarkable for their biodiversity and ecological significance, exhibiting the capacity to exist in different stable configurations with possible abrupt shifts between these alternative stable states. This study ap…
View article: AI-based satellite survey offers independent assessment of migratory wildebeest numbers in the Serengeti
AI-based satellite survey offers independent assessment of migratory wildebeest numbers in the Serengeti Open
The Great Wildebeest Migrationin the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is a globally iconic wildlife phenomenon that supports the health and biodiversity of the region by supporting predator populations, regulating herbivore densities, and driving …
View article: New challenges in spatial ecology
New challenges in spatial ecology Open
The dramatic loss of biodiversity constitutes a critical threat to achieving a sustainable future for humanity. It is essential to understand the underpinnings of the spatial dimensions of biodiversity, and how reductions of area and homog…
View article: Welfare optimization for resource allocation with peer effects
Welfare optimization for resource allocation with peer effects Open
Allocating students to schools or universities, people to teams or groups, people to urban housing, and matching users on social platforms are prominent examples of allocating limited goods, spaces, or positions to optimize social welfare.…
View article: Policy, Risk, and Norms Shape Collective Behaviors Worldwide
Policy, Risk, and Norms Shape Collective Behaviors Worldwide Open
Societal responses to environmental change vary widely, even under comparable shocks, reflecting differences in both policy measures and public reactions shaped by cultural and socioeconomic contexts. We examine mask-wearing dynamics acros…
View article: Making Mindfulness Matter May Improve Quality of Life in Young Children With Epilepsy: Pilot RCT
Making Mindfulness Matter May Improve Quality of Life in Young Children With Epilepsy: Pilot RCT Open
OBJECTIVE Chronic disease detrimentally affects health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children, with family environment often playing a significant role. This study evaluated the effect of Making Mindfulness Matter (M3), a community-ba…
View article: Optimal sampling frequency and site selection for wastewater and environmental surveillance of infectious pathogens: A value of information assessment
Optimal sampling frequency and site selection for wastewater and environmental surveillance of infectious pathogens: A value of information assessment Open
Wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES) is a promising method of detecting infectious diseases in human and animal populations and offers significant advantages over traditional surveillance methods in the early detection of outbre…
View article: Collective cooperative intelligence
Collective cooperative intelligence Open
Cooperation at scale is critical for achieving a sustainable future for humanity. However, achieving collective, cooperative behavior—in which intelligent actors in complex environments jointly improve their well-being—remains poorly under…
View article: The pursuit of happiness
The pursuit of happiness Open
Happiness, in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, was understood quite differently from today's popular notions of personal pleasure. Happiness implies a flourishing life - one of virtue, purpose, and contribution to the common good. Thi…
View article: Spatial modeling of forest-savanna bistability: Impacts of fire dynamics and timescale separation
Spatial modeling of forest-savanna bistability: Impacts of fire dynamics and timescale separation Open
Forest-savanna bistability - the hypothesis that forests and savannas exist as alternative stable states in the tropics - and its implications are key challenges for mathematical modelers and ecologists in the context of ongoing climate ch…
View article: Imbalance in gut microbial interactions as a marker of health and disease
Imbalance in gut microbial interactions as a marker of health and disease Open
Imbalances in the human gut microbiome (dysbioses) are linked to multiple diseases but remain poorly understood. Current biomarkers to identify dysbiosis are inconsistent and fail to capture the ecological mechanisms differentiating health…
View article: Revealing Physical Mechanisms of Spatial Pattern Formation and Switching in Ecosystems via Nonequilibrium Landscape and Flux
Revealing Physical Mechanisms of Spatial Pattern Formation and Switching in Ecosystems via Nonequilibrium Landscape and Flux Open
Spatial patterns are widely observed in numerous nonequilibrium natural systems, often undergoing complex transitions and bifurcations, thereby exhibiting significant importance in many physical and biological systems such as embryonic dev…
View article: The complex interplay between risk tolerance and the spread of infectious diseases
The complex interplay between risk tolerance and the spread of infectious diseases Open
Risk-driven behaviour provides a feedback mechanism through which individuals both shape and are collectively affected by an epidemic. We introduce a general and flexible compartmental model to study the effect of heterogeneity in the popu…
View article: Timing dynamics of internal displacement in Somalia vary depending on the coincidence with local political and climatic conditions
Timing dynamics of internal displacement in Somalia vary depending on the coincidence with local political and climatic conditions Open
Human migration is one of the defining topics of our time, but the dynamics of when and how often migration events occur are poorly understood. Often, a single, context-unaware model is assumed without empirical evidence. Spatiotemporal de…
View article: Interpretable Early Warnings using Machine Learning in an Online Game-experiment
Interpretable Early Warnings using Machine Learning in an Online Game-experiment Open
Stemming from physics and later applied to other fields such as ecology, the theory of critical transitions suggests that some regime shifts are preceded by statistical early warning signals. Reddit's r/place experiment, a large-scale soci…
View article: PUBLIC GOODS, SOCIAL EXTERNALITIES, AND POLITICAL POLARIZATION
PUBLIC GOODS, SOCIAL EXTERNALITIES, AND POLITICAL POLARIZATION Open
On November 19, 2024, Dr. Simon Levin presented Public Goods, Social Externalities, and Political Polarization for this year’s West Coast Security Conference. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions fro…
View article: Ecohydrological Engineering for the Sustainable Management of Water–Biota Interactions
Ecohydrological Engineering for the Sustainable Management of Water–Biota Interactions Open
Ecohydrology engineering provides a valuable framework for addressing emerging environmental challenges by integrating ecological and environmental engineering principles. In this study, we discuss the potential of parsimonious, physically…
View article: Revealing Physical Mechanisms of Pattern Formation and Switching in Ecosystems via Nonequilibrium Landscape and Flux
Revealing Physical Mechanisms of Pattern Formation and Switching in Ecosystems via Nonequilibrium Landscape and Flux Open
Spatial patterns are widely observed in numerous nonequilibrium natural systems, often undergoing complex transitions and bifurcations, thereby exhibiting significant importance in many physical and biological systems such as embryonic dev…
View article: Respiratory Disease Surveillance in the Middle East and Latin America during the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020–2022
Respiratory Disease Surveillance in the Middle East and Latin America during the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020–2022 Open
Characterizing the epidemiology of circulating respiratory pathogens during the COVID-19 pandemic could clarify the burden of acute respiratory infections and monitor outbreaks of public health and military relevance. The US Department of …
View article: Opinion-driven risk perception and reaction in SIS epidemics
Opinion-driven risk perception and reaction in SIS epidemics Open
We present and analyze a mathematical model to study the feedback between behavior and epidemic spread in a population that is actively assessing and reacting to risk of infection. In our model, a population dynamically forms an opinion th…
View article: Canary Mating Season Songs Move Between Order and Disorder
Canary Mating Season Songs Move Between Order and Disorder Open
Many complex behaviors involve sequences of basic motor or vocal elements governed by syntactic rules, which facilitate flexible and adaptive actions. Songbirds that crystallize their repertoire of vocal syllables and transitions allow res…