Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution

Mathematical models have become an indispensable tool in ecology and evolutionary biology, to the point that aspiring scientists in these fields must have a working knowledge of basic mathematical modeling techniques. This course teaches such techniques practically from scratch, without requiring much background knowledge except elementary high school algebra and a little calculus. If successful, it will allow the students to understand papers that contain models, to develop new models to explore their own ideas, and to generate and use models for analysis and interpretation of data. Students are required to study one book chapter per week and to do several exercises for hands-on experience. Some exercises are of the pencil-and-paper variety, but others require the help of computer-aided mathematical tools such as Maple, Mathematica and/or R, which the student will learn how to use during the course. One afternoon per week, participants meet with a teacher for demonstration and discussion.

Former occurrences of this course

25 March – 24 June 2021   |   19 March – 30 June 2018   |   14 March – 25 June 2016   |   18 March – 29 June 2013   |   17 March – June 2011