Excerpt

All science, as this paper explains, relies on models, but this is more obvious for the study of complex systems than, say, mycology, so it is only fitting that we begin this volume with one of the first self-conscious articulations of how and why scientists use models. A few words of scene-setting are in order before discussing the paper itself, about our authors, their larger interdisciplinary collaborative project, and how this paper both fit into that project and opened new pathways.

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