Software for Ecology and Evolution Curriculum

该奖项为进一步完善 模拟各种类型的交互式计算机软件 种群生物学实验的最后一个阶段。 从本质上讲，人口 生物学涉及生态学、进化和 行为 例子包括捕食者/猎物的影响， 宿主/寄生虫关系对成功（或灭绝） 特定的物种，内部突变的固定率 有一定规模的人口，以及其他。 数学模型在 这些生物学分支将已知或假定的特性 个体成员的预测， 人口作为一个整体。 数学 所需的操作通常是乏味的、困难的或两者兼有。 因此，数学焦虑严重阻碍了学习的不仅仅是 最简单的种群生物学基本原理 本科水平。 正在开发的示例性软件 阿尔斯塔德和他的同事们将使简单和复杂的 人口模型更容易为各级学生所用。

This award provides funds for the further refinement of interactive computer software that simulates a variety of types of experiments in population biology. By its nature, population biology deals with quantitative aspects of ecology, evolution and behavior. Examples include the effects of predator/prey or host/parasite relationships on the success (or extinction) of particular species, rates of fixation of mutations within populations of defined size, and others. Mathematical models in these branches of biology translate known or assumed properties of individual members of populations into predictions about the properties of the population as a whole. The mathematical manipulations required are often tedious, difficult, or both. Thus math anxieties seriously impede the study of more than the simplest basic principles of population biology at the undergraduate level. The exemplary software being developed by Alstad and his colleagues will make both simple and complex population models far more accessible to students at all levels.