2009 Summer Graduate Program (July 27 - August 14, 2009)
This year the program will focus on Mathematical Ecology and Evolution. The program leaders are Ian Hamilton (Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University) and Yuan Lou (Department of Mathematics, Ohio State University).
The first week is spent in a tutorial, which combines morning lectures with active learning laboratories in the afternoon. Dr. Hamilton will give five lectures on the evolutionary ecology of interacting phenotypes, including such topics as the use of game theory in evolutionary ecology, levels of selection, the evolution of cooperation, competition and predator-prey games. Dr. Lou will give five lectures on the theory of Adaptive Dynamics with applications to the evolution of dispersal, consumer-resource models and the evolution of virulence.
The following two weeks are spent working on guided team projects and participating in a mini-conference to share project results. The program is meant primarily for graduate students; college instructors and qualified undergraduates will also be considered. Team projects include the following topics:
- Maintenance of variation in mate choice and mate quality
- Sanctions and cooperative behavior
- Evolution of dispersal in heterogeneous landscapes
- Evolution of virulence
Week 1 |
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| Monday 7/27 | |||
| 8:30-9:00am | Short tour of MBI; meeting MBI director; meeting MBI staff; short self-introduction of participants | ||
| 9:00am-10:00am | Lecture: Ian Hamilton | ||
| 10:00am-10:30am | Coffee break | ||
| 10:30am-11:30am | Lecture: Yuan Lou | ||
| 11:30am-2:00pm | Lunch break | ||
| 2:00pm-5:00pm | Short tour of campus after lunch; travel reimbursement; distribution of laptops | ||
| Tuesday 7/28 | |||
| 9:00am-10:00am | Lecture: Ian Hamilton | ||
| 10:00am-10:30am | Coffee break | ||
| 10:30am-11:30am | Lecture: Yuan Lou | ||
| 11:30am-2:00pm | Lunch break | ||
| 2:00pm-2:15pm | Project presentation: Dr. Paula Federico | ||
| 2:15pm-3:00pm | Introductions to Individual based models: Dr. Paula Federico | ||
| Wednesday 7/29 | |||
| 9:00am-10:00am | Lecture: Ian Hamilton | ||
| 10:00am-10:30am | Coffee break | ||
| 10:30am-11:30am | Lecture: Yuan Lou | ||
| 11:30am-2:00pm | Lunch break | ||
| 2:00pm-3:00pm | Introduction to MatLabs: Dr. Chuan Xue | ||
| Thursday 7/30 | |||
| 9:00am-10:00am | Lecture: Ian Hamilton | ||
| 10:00am-10:30am | Coffee break | ||
| 10:30am-11:30am | Lecture: Yuan Lou | ||
| 11:30am-2:00pm | Lunch break | ||
| 2:00pm-5:00pm | TBA | ||
| Friday 7/31 | |||
| 9:00am-10:00am | Lecture: Ian Hamilton | ||
| 10:00am-10:30am | Coffee break | ||
| 10:30am-11:30am | Lecture: Yuan Lou | ||
| 11:30am-2:00pm | Lunch break | ||
| 2:00pm-4:00pm | Project presentations by MBI postdocs | ||
| 4:00pm-5:00pm | Formation of teams | ||
Teams work on projects: August 3-13, 2009
Team projects |
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| Friday 8/14 | |||
| 8:00am-9:00am | Project 2: Multiscale models of chemotaxis | ||
| 9:00am-9:45am | Project 1: A phylogeographic distance metric for infectious disease | ||
| 9:45am-10:00am | Coffee break | ||
| 10:00am-10:40am | Project 4: Evolution of variance in mate choice | ||
| 10:45am-11:05am | A numeric approach to Adaptive Dynamics | ||
| 11:10am-11:50am | Project 3: Learn individual-based modeling basics by modeling fish movement behavior | ||
Project 1: A phylogeographic distance metric for infectious disease
Project Leader: Dr. Rasmus Hovmoller
Presentation
This project is about correlating the phylogeny and epidemic pattern of infectious disease. Transmission patterns and the phylogeography of infectious disease can be deduced by recreating their natural history from phylogenetic trees from DNA sequences. Different infectious diseases have different patterns in how they are spread geographically. A disease carried by animal vectors would be expected to spread in a very different pattern from a disease transmitted between humans. By comparing the patristic distances in a phylogenetic tree with the actual geographic distances of virus isolates, you will compare and contrast the patterns of geographic spread of two types of influenza. The goal is to create a statistic for a correlation between the distance between the virus isolates in the phylogenetic tree and their actual geographical distances.
Project 2: Multiscale models of chemotaxis
Project Leader: Dr. Chuan Xue
Presentation
Chemotactic movement of cells play important roles in cancer development, wound healing, angiogenesis, bacterial pattern formation, etc. Recently new techniques in cell and molecular biology have produced huge advances in our understanding of signal transduction and cellular response, and have led to better cell-level models. In the past phenomenological equations such as the Patlak-Keller-Segel equations have been used in modeling the cell movement, but the question remains as to how the microscopic behavior can be correctly described by a macroscopic equation. In this project, we will study multi-scale models of chemotaxis that incorporate both signal transduction and cell movement, and how these models can be lifted to macroscopic models of the population. We will compare different models using numerical simulations. Depending on participants' interest, we may explore either bacterial or ameoboid chemotaxis.
Project 3: Learn individual-based modeling basics by modeling fish movement behavior
Project Leader: Dr. Paula Federico
Presentation
In this project we will use a spatially explicit, individual-based model to represent the movement behavior of a fish population in the water column in response to spatial and temporal changes in habitat quality during a season. In particular, fish in Lake Erie experience significant changes their habitat properties due to seasonal hypoxia. During spring and summer, the central and eastern basins of lake Erie thermally stratify, isolating oxygen-rich surface waters form the cooler, deeper bottom waters. Low oxygen bottom waters adversely affect benthic communities and food web dynamics. Acoustic data on fish abundance in the water column clearly show changes in patterns of fish distribution over the season. This phenomenon is our biological motivation to develop an individual model to better understand fish movement behavior and distribution in the water column. We will learn how to develop an individual-based model using the NetLogo programmable modeling environment.
Supplemental Materials:
- Macal, C.M. and North, M.J. 2005. Tutorial on agent-based modeling and simulation. Proceedings of the 2005 Winter Simulation Conference.
- Macal, C.M. and North, M.J. 2006. Tutorial on agent-based modeling and simulation part 2: how to model with agents. Proceedings of the 2006 Winter Simulation Conference.
- Grim, V. et al. 2006. A standard protocol for describing individual-based and agent-based models. Ecological Modelling 198: 115-126.
- Kristiansen, T. et al. 2009. Modeling rule-based behavior: habitat selection and the growth-survival trade-off in larval code. Behavioral Ecology, February 20, 2009.
- NetLogo home page, http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/
Project 4: Evolution of variance in mate choice
Project Leader: Dr. Deena Schmidt
Presentation
A lek is a gathering of males of a certain species for the purpose of competitive mating display. Lekking males are thought to face strong directional selection on secondary sexual traits. How variation in male traits can persist under these conditions remains problematic. We will discuss a game-theoretic model showing that avoidance of costly predators, sneakers, or brood parasites (enemies) leads to variation in female choice. This can result in maintenance of variation in male quality. "Enemies" will congregate around higher quality males. Females must then trade-off the benefits of mating with high-quality males against the increased risk of enemies. Hamilton, Haesler, and Taborsky (2006) examined the influence of this female-enemy game on the maintenance of variation in male quality [Behav. Ecol. 17:97-107]. This group project will take this model and extend it by adding male decisions to invest in safety, adding differences in female quality, adding continuous variation in qualities, or another idea that students come up with.
