Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Population And Evolution Dynamics In Predator-Prey Systems With Anti-Predation Responses, Yang Wang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis studies the impact of anti-predation strategy on the population dynamics of predator-prey interactions. This work includes three research projects.

In the first project, we study a system of delay differential equations by considering both benefit and cost of anti-predation response, as well as a time delay in the transfer of biomass from the prey to the predator after predation. We reveal some insights on how the anti-predation response level and the biomass transfer delay jointly affect the population dynamics; we also show how the nonlinearity in the predation term mediated by the fear effect affects the long term …

Contraction Analysis Of Functional Competitive Lotka-Volterra Systems: Understanding Competition Between Modified Bacteria And Plasmodium Within Mosquitoes., Nickolas Goncharenko

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

We propose and analyze an extension to the classic Competitive Lotka-Volterra (CLV) model. The goal is to model competition between species, with a response from the environment. This response is a function of the population of all species and can represent numerous physical phenomena including resource limitation and immune response of a host due to infection. We name this new system a Functional Competitive Lotka-Volterra (FCLV) model. We mainly use the construction of contraction metrics, to determine global properties of the model. We use this result to analyze the competition between Plasmodium sp. and genetically engineered bacteria within the midgut …

Modelling Walleye Population And Its Cannibalism Effect, Quan Zhou

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Walleye is a very common recreational fish in Canada with a strong cannibalism tendency, such that walleyes with larger sizes will consume their smaller counterparts when food sources are limited or a surplus of adults is present. Cannibalism may be a factor promoting population oscillation. As fish reach a certain age or biological stage (i.e. biological maturity), the number of fish achieving that stage is known as fish recruitment. The objective of this thesis is to model the walleye population with its recruitment and cannibalism effect. A matrix population model has been introduced to characterize the walleye population into three …

On Honey Bee Colony Dynamics And Disease Transmission, Matthew I. Betti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The work herein falls under the umbrella of mathematical modeling of disease transmission. The majority of this document focuses on the extent to which infection undermines the strength of a honey bee colony. These studies extend from simple mass-action ordinary differential equations models, to continuous age-structured partial differential equation models and finally a detailed agent-based model which accounts for vector transmission of infection between bees as well as a host of other influences and stressors on honey bee colony dynamics. These models offer a series of predictions relevant to the fate of honey bee colonies in the presence of disease …

Ecological Constraints And The Evolution Of Cooperative Breeding, David Mcleod

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cooperative breeding is a social behaviour in which certain individuals will opt to delay or forgo their own reproduction in order to help other individuals. Cooperative breeding is one of the most conspicuous examples of cooperation in nature. However, theoretical understanding of why this behaviour occurs is lacking and contradictory. In this thesis, I examine the role played by ecological constraints on the emergence of cooperative breeding. Contrary to previous results, I find that ecological constraints do matter, provided the population dynamics are properly accounted for. I also examine the long-term evolutionary dynamics of cooperative breeding, and obtain the optimal …