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A hive of bees, a colony of ants and a parliament of owls.
These are just a few examples of animal groups, or populations. A population is dynamic; this means it is constantly changing in size and demographics. New animals are born, old animals die and other factors such as drought, fire and lack of predators, all cause a change in the population.
The population growth is the change in the number of individuals in a population, per unit time. For example, if a population has ten births and five deaths per year, then the population growth is five individuals per year.
In the following pages, we aim to represent populations and changes in populations using mathematics. This involves using differential equations and even probability.
Links to pages on differential equations:
A First Model |
Exponential and Geometric Models |
The Logistic Equation |
The Logistic Map |
The Lotka-Volterra Equations |
Modified L-V Equations |
Links to pages on probability:
We are able to describe population growth by making some generalizations and using simple differential equations:
The size, $N_t$, of a population depends upon:
This gives us the equation: $$N_t=N_0+B-D+I-E$$
When a population is closed, there is no immigration or emigration. This often occurs on remote islands, such as the Galapagos Islands. Our equation then becomes $N_t=N_0+B-D$ , or equivalently $$N_{t+1}=N_t+B-D$$
Clearly the population will increase if $B> D$, and will decrease if $B< D$.
A population is in equilibrium if on average the population size remains constant over a long period of time. Mathematically, this means: $N_t=N_{t+\Delta t}$
Question:
We can rewrite the equation $N_{t+1}=N_t+B-D$ , as: $$N_{t+1}-N_t=\Delta N_t=B-D$$ Intuitively, why does this make sense? Think of an example of a population to explain why.
bioNRICH is the area of the stemNRICH site devoted to the mathematics underlying the study of the biological sciences, designed to help develop the mathematics required to get the most from your study of biology at A-level and university.
Can you work out how to produce the right amount of chemical in a temperature-dependent reaction?