Staff Profile
Mr Shubham Tiwari
Contact Mr Shubham Tiwari (email at shubham.tiwari@durham.ac.uk)
Biography
- 2020 - present: PhD student, Durham University
- 2019 - 2020: Junior Research Fellow, Water Resources and Hydrology Lab, IISER Bhopal
- 2014 - 2019: BS-MS dual degree (major in Earth and Environmental Sciences)
Project Description
Earth surface processes fall at the interface of ecology and geomorphology. In recent years, there has been an increasing recognition of ecogeomorphology, a term that is used to refer to a coupled ecological-geomorphological system in which feedback between biotic and abiotic components occurs. Connectivity is widely used as a conceptual framework within earth sciences, where a system/process can be characterized as a set of interconnected components. In recent years, connectivity has become a fundamental concept for understanding and explaining complex systems. Complexity, a scientific theory which asserts that some systems exhibit behavioural phenomena (emergent behaviour) that are completely inexplicable by any conventional analysis of the systems’ constituent parts. In a complex network (system/process), not all nodes (components) have the same importance, and some nodes are more important than others in shaping system behaviour. This project aims at developing complex network theory-based concepts for the investigation of the spatial and temporal role of critical/important nodes in ecogeomorphic systems.
The problem formation can be divided into four parts. First, we propose to examine the spatio-temporal connections in various climatic, biotic, and abiotic components of earth systems (one variable at a time). The goal is to identify critical nodes in single layered network. Second, to understand the effect of climate extremes on biotic and abiotic components and subsequently, identify the Engineer Pioneer Species in specific desert ecosystems. Third, to develop a multi-layered complex networkbased modelling approach to understand ecogeomorphic systems. The information flow between different layers (variables) will be quantified based on specific network metrices. Fourth, to develop a conceptual framework for identification of critical nodes in multiple complex networks (Ecology, Geomorphology, Neuroscience, Social Network Science and Systems Biology). The output of the proposed work will help to develop a better understanding of earth systems through a range of ecogeomorphic perspective.
Keywords: Critical Nodes; Ecogeomorphic System; Dryland; Land degradation; Complexity; Network Theory; Connectivity; Functional/Structural/Generic; Climate Change; Climate Variation; Extreme Events; Rainfall; State Change; Engineer Pioneer Plants; Geomorphologic Engineer Species; Soil Moisture Pulse; Multi-layered Graph; Emergent Behaviour; Ecohydrology
Research Groups
Department of Geography
Research Interests
- Complex Networks
- Critical Nodes
- Ecogeomorphic Systems and Processes
- Land degradation in Drylands
Selected Publications
Journal Article
- Tiwari, Shubham, Jha, Sanjeev Kumar & Singh, Ankit (2020). Quantification of node importance in rain gauge network: influence of temporal resolution and rain gauge density. Scientific Reports 10(1): 9761.
- Tiwari, Shubham, Kumar Jha, Sanjeev & Sivakumar, Bellie (2019). Reconstruction of daily rainfall data using the concepts of networks: Accounting for spatial connections in neighborhood selection. Journal of Hydrology 579: 124185.