Software for Ecology and Evolution Curriculum

该奖项为进一步改进交互式计算机软件提供资金，该软件模拟人口生物学中的各种类型的实验。从本质上讲，种群生物学研究的是生态、进化和行为的数量方面。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，在确定大小的种群中固定突变的速率，以及其他。这些生物学分支中的数学模型将已知或假定的种群个体成员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生学习最简单的种群生物学基本原理。阿尔斯塔德和他的同事正在开发的示范软件将使简单和复杂的人口模型对所有级别的学生来说都更容易获得。

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.