Mathematics Seminar: Using Mathematical Modeling To Understand Diverse Behaviors

Lecture by Kathryn Montovan of Bennington College
.
Mathematical modeling, simulation, and analysis are valuable tools for answering biological questions about evolution, self-organization, and complex ecosystem interactions. For each biological question the appropriate mathematical tools must be carefully employed in order to produce meaningful results.

This talk will present several recent projects to illustrate the process of taking a biological problem and making it into a mathematical one, the mathematics used to answer the question, and the biological meaning of the results. She will discuss self-organization in honeybees, evolved behaviors in parasitic wasps and potato beetles, and complex population dynamics in coral reef ecosystems.

This talk will be accessible to anyone who has studied calculus.