Models Relating Population Dynamics to Individual Physiology and Behavior

9319301 Nisbet基于个体的模型正在成为群体生物学中广泛使用的工具。这些模型利用对个体生理和行为的数学描述来预测种群的特性。pi并不把基于个体的模型视为最终目的，而是将其视为一个过程的一部分，使他们能够开发出可测试的理论。他们的目标是确定个体生理学的那些组成部分，这些组成部分是预测种群动态的关键。这些问题将探讨的系统是浮游动物水蚤和它的藻类食物供应。由于许多原因，这个系统是合适的。水蚤是许多天然湖泊和池塘的重要属，以往的研究已经确定了许多种群的共同动态模式；因此，从人口模型中获得的任何理解都可能具有重要的生态学意义。更常见的水蚤物种的生理学有很好的记录，部分原因是它们通常用于毒理学研究，而且pi有一个主要的正在进行的项目，研究水蚤个体的能量学。一个pi和我们的一个合作者，卡尔加里大学的E. McCauley博士研究了大型储存罐中的水蚤种群。因此，所选择的系统提供了在日益复杂的系统中研究个体与群体联系的可能性。该项目的“可交付成果”将有三种：(1)增加对所选系统的种群动态的洞察，(2)对制定、测试和简化基于个体的模型的过程有更清晰的理解，以及(3)新的一般理论

9319301 Nisbet Individual-based models are becoming widely used tools in population biology. These models use mathematical descriptions of the physiology and behavior of individuals to predict properties of populations. The PIs view individual-based models, not as an end in themselves, but as part of a process that can allow them to develop testable theory. They aim to identify those components of individual physiology that are key to predicting population dynamics.%%% The system for which these questions will be explored is the zooplankter Daphnia and its algal food supply. This system is appropriate for many reasons. Daphnia is an important genus in many natural lakes and ponds and previous studies have identified common dynamic patterns across many populations; thus any understanding gained from the population models is likely to be ecologically important. The physiology of the more common Daphnia species is well documented, in part because of their common use in toxicological studies, and the PIs have a major on-going program of research on the energetics of individual Daphnia. Daphnia populations in large stock tanks have been studied by one of the PIs and by one of our collaborators, Dr. E. McCauley at the University of Calgary. Thus the chosen system offers the possibility of studying the individual-to-population link in systems of increasing complexity.%%% The "deliverables" from the project will be of three kinds: (1) increased insight into the population dynamics of the chosen system, (2) sharper understanding of the processes of formulating, testing and simplifying individual-based models, and (3) new general theory.***