When: Friday, February 23, 2018 At 7:00 pm - Where: Istituto Italiano di Cultura Chicago - 500 N Michi - What: A lecture by Professor Stefano Allesina, University of Chicago, The first event of the year in our Café Scientifique Series - Entrance : Free

Explaining the staggering biodiversity observed in rich ecological communities such as tropical rainforests and coral reefs is one of the main goals of ecology. The large number of species that coexist in these communities is puzzling, in light of the so-called "principle of competitive exclusion": if two species compete for the same resources, then the better competitor will displace the worse competitor. In the Amazon rainforest, however, we can find more than 15,000 species of trees---seemingly competing for the same exact resources.