Ecological Modeling

This module will focus on ecological modeling. More info soon...

Date

Topic

Readings, HW and things to think about

Tuesday Sept 11

The use and abuse of mathematical models in ecology

  • Logistic growth revisited

Link to slides

Reading for today: Kokko Ch.1 , Jackson et al. 2000,

HW due next time: Constant quota fishing model

Thursday Sept 13

Coupling human and natural systems: the case of open access exploitation

  • Insights from graphing
  • Identifying and critiquing model assumptions

Link to slides

None

Tuesday Sept 18

From woolly idea to mechanism: the Anthropogenic Allee Effect

  • Turn your wooly idea into a question
  • Build a conceptual model

Link to slides

Reading for today:  Courchamp et al. 2006 & Hall et al. 2008

HW for next time: Brainstorm your conceptual model individually (link to assignment)

Thursday Sept 20

Insights from simple models: host parasite interactions and the basic reproductive
number

  • Controlling outbreaks

Slides from today

Reading for today: None

HW for next class:

  1. Individual work: Using the disease models from today, how does changing p,c, N and γ change R0? For each of p, c, N and γ, describe a disease control intervention that could reduce R0 below 1 (e.g. what kind of control methods could reduce p?).
  2. Group work: See paper assignments here.

Tuesday Sept 25

Models as organizational tools for navigating complex interactions

  • Group projects: development and preliminary analysis of your models.

Reading for Today: See homework from day before

HW: Work on group project

Thursday Sept 27

  • Class presentation on modeling projects
  • Reflections on ecological modeling

None