2012 IGTC Summit: Prof. Steve Krone (Part I)

Individual-based stochastic spatial models and population biology

These talks will provide an introduction to individual-based stochastic spatial models (sometimes called interacting particle systems or stochastic cellular automata). We will proceed from very simple basic models to more elaborate ones, illustrating the ideas with examples of spatial biological population dynamics. We will compare these models and results with analogous differential equations (ODE and PDE) and see how they are connected. Biological topics will include spatial population growth and spread, epidemics, evolution of pathogens, and antibiotic resistance plasmids. Throughout, we will point out situations in which spatial structure can dramatically influence the ecology and evolution of populations.