Modelling of natural populations as stochastic processes. Multiplicative models. Stochastic growth rates. Environmental stochasticity. Demographic stochasticity. Density regulation. Diffusion processes. Stationary distributions. Quasi-stationary distributions. Extinction processes. Age structured populations. Applications in ecology and population genetics with emphasis on conservation of biodiversity.
Prerequisites
Recommended previous knowledge
ST1101 Probability and statistics.
Learning outcomes
1. Knowledge.
- The student has learned basic population dynamics, including different applications of the concept of probability in population dynamics.
- The student can solve problems related to modern research in ecology and conservation biology based on stochastic modelling. In particular the student knows how to perform viability analyses in populations with no density regulation, including predictions by stochastic simulations when parameters are unknown.
2. Skills.
- The student can read literature in population dynamics and communicate with biologists on construction of stochastic models in this field.
- The student can also formulate stochastic models by the diffusion approximation and perform simple analytical and some more complex numerical computations by diffusion theory.
- The student can further perform simple analyses using stochastic age structured population models.
Files/Documents
ISCED Categories
Ecology
Conservation and environmental management
Scientific modelling