Where shall I stop for lunch? (Image: George Reszeter/Alamy)
ECOLOGISTS have it hard. The ecosystems they study often contain dozens if not hundreds of interacting species, each one affected by myriad variables such as weather, soils, predators and local history. In such a jungle, it can be hard to find a path to understanding. But now ecologists have a new guide: artificial intelligence.
Already in use in disciplines such as stock market analysis, software that can recognise hidden patterns and trends in messy data offers a powerful tool for ecology.
“The real strength of machine learning is you can take these really complex databases that contain…
