Software for Ecology and Evolution Curriculum

生态学和进化论课程软件

• 批准号: 9150887
• 负责人: Donald Alstad
• 金额: $ 1.51万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1991
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1991-07-15 至 1992-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9150887&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Software; Ecology; Evolution; Curriculum

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.

该奖项为进一步完善模拟群体生物学各种类型实验的交互式计算机软件提供资金。 就其本质而言，群体生物学研究的是生态学、进化和行为的定量方面。 例子包括捕食者/猎物或宿主/寄生虫关系对特定物种成功（或灭绝）的影响、特定规模种群内突变的固定率等。 生物学这些分支中的数学模型将种群个体成员的已知或假设的特性转化为对整个种群特性的预测。 所需的数学运算通常是乏味的、困难的，或者两者兼而有之。 因此，数学焦虑严重阻碍了本科阶段对人口生物学最简单的基本原理的研究。 Alstad 和他的同事正在开发的示例性软件将使各个级别的学生更容易理解简单和复杂的人口模型。