The seasonality hypothesis states that climates characterized by large annual cycles select for large body sizes. In order to study the effects of seasonality on the evolution of body size, we use a model that is based on physiological rules and first principles. At the ecological time scale, our model results show that both larger productivity and seasonality may lead to larger body sizes. Our model is the first dynamic and process-based model to support the seasonality hypothesis and hence...

Motivated by structured parasite populations in aquaculture we consider a class of size-structured population models, where individuals may be recruited into the population with distributed states at birth. The mathematical model which describes the evolution of such a population is a first-order nonlinear partial integro-differential equation of hyperbolic type. First, we use positive perturbation arguments and utilise results from the spectral...

The semilinear Cauchy problem (1) u’(t) = Au(t) + G(u(t)), $u\left(0\right)=x\in \overline{D\left(A\right)}$, with a Hille-Yosida operator A and a nonlinear operator G: D(A) → X is considered under the assumption that ||G(x) - G(y)|| ≤ ||B(x -y )|| ∀x,y ∈ D(A) with some linear B: D(A) → X, $B{(\lambda -A)}^{-1}x=\lambda {\int }_0^{\infty }{e}^{-\lambda t}V\left(s\right)xds$, where V is of suitable small strong variation on some interval [0,ε). We will prove the existence of a semiflow on $[0,\infty )\times \overline{D\left(A\right)}$ that provides Friedrichs solutions in L₁ for (1). If X is a Banach lattice, we replace the condition above by |G(x) - G(y)| ≤ Bv whenever...

We have developed a chemical kinetics simulation that can be used as both an educational and research tool. The simulator is designed as an accessible, open-source project that can be run on a laptop with a student-friendly interface. The application can potentially be scaled to run in parallel for large simulations. The simulation has been successfully used in a classroom setting for teaching basic electrochemical properties. We have shown that...

Branching Processes in Random Environment (BPREs) $(Z_n:n\ge 0)$ are the generalization of Galton–Watson processes where in each generation the reproduction law is picked randomly in an i.i.d. manner. In the supercritical case, the process survives with positive probability and then almost surely grows geometrically. This paper focuses on rare events when the process takes positive but small values for large times. We describe the asymptotic behavior of $\mathbb{P}(1\le Z_n\le k|Z_0=i)$, $k,i\in \mathbb{N}$ as $n\to \infty$. More precisely, we characterize the exponential...

The Lyapunov exponent is a statistic that measures the sensitive dependence of the dynamic behaviour of a system on its initial conditions. Estimates of Lyapunov exponents are often used to characterize the qualitative population dynamics of insect time series. The methodology for estimation of the exponent for an observed, noisy, short ecological time series is still under development. Some progress has been made recently in providing measures of error for these exponents. Studies that do not account...

In this paper, we investigate the complex dynamics of a spatial plankton-fish system with Holling type III functional responses. We have carried out the analytical study for both one and two dimensional system in details and found out a condition for diffusive instability of a locally stable equilibrium. Furthermore, we present a theoretical analysis of processes of pattern formation that involves organism distribution and their interaction of spatially...

Mechanisms contributing to the spread of avian influenza seem to be well identified, but how their interplay led to the current worldwide spread pattern of H5N1 influenza is still unknown due to the lack of effective global surveillance and relevant data. Here we develop some deterministic models based on the transmission cycle and modes of H5N1 and focusing on the interaction among poultry, wild birds and environment. Some of the model parameters are obtained from existing literatures, and others...

In this paper, a two-species Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model with two delays is considered. By analyzing the associated characteristic transcendental equation, the linear stability of the positive equilibrium is investigated and Hopf bifurcation is demonstrated. Some explicit formulae for determining the stability and direction of Hopf bifurcation periodic solutions bifurcating from Hopf bifurcations are obtained by using normal form theory and center manifold theory. Some numerical simulations...

The dynamics of a prey-predator system, where predator has two stages, a juvenile stage and a mature stage, is modelled by a system of three ordinary differential equations. Stability and permanence of the system are discussed. Furthermore, we consider the harvesting of prey species and obtain the maximum sustainable yield and the optimal harvesting policy.

A diffusive delayed predator-prey model with modified Leslie-Gower and Holling-type II schemes is considered. Local stability for each constant steady state is studied by analyzing the eigenvalues. Some simple and easily verifiable sufficient conditions for global stability are obtained by virtue of the stability of the related FDE and some monotonous iterative sequences. Numerical simulations and reasonable biological explanations are carried out to illustrate the main results and the justification...

We consider a generalized 1-D von Foerster equation. We present two discretization methods for the initial value problem and study stability of finite difference schemes on regular meshes.