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。这些模型使用对个体生理和行为的数学描述来预测种群的特性。研究人员将基于个人的模型视为一个过程的一部分，而不是最终的目的，这一过程可以使他们发展出可检验的理论。他们的目标是确定那些对预测种群动态至关重要的个体生理成分。这些问题将被探讨的系统是动物园水蚤及其藻类食物供应。出于多种原因，该系统是合适的。水蚤是许多天然湖泊和池塘中的一个重要属，以前的研究已经确定了许多种群的共同动态模式;因此，从种群模型中获得的任何理解都可能具有重要的生态意义。更常见的水蚤物种的生理学是有据可查的，部分原因是它们在毒理学研究中的常见用途，PI有一个关于个体水蚤能量学的主要持续研究计划。一位PI和我们的合作者E。卡尔加里大学的麦考利。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之间联系的可能性。该项目的“可交付成果”将分为三类：（1）增加对所选系统的种群动态的洞察力，（2）更深刻地理解制定、测试和简化基于个人的模型的过程，（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.***