Ecological dynamics

About this programme

The course focuses on mathematical modelling as a tool for the study of ecological dynamics, i.e., the interplay between organisms and their environment. You will learn how biological and environmental information can be translated into meaningful mathematical models, how the behavior of mathematical models can be explored, analysed and interpreted, and how models can be used to derive expectations and hypotheses about the real world. The teaching methodology is problem-oriented, research-based and learner-centered. Course participants develop published models with the help of a common software, under the guidance of course instructors. The concepts, techniques and practical tasks are all discussed in working groups during seminars. This part gives a solid background in population and community theory from a process oriented, dynamic perspective. The focus is on how interactions between organisms drive the dynamics of ecological systems through feedbacks among various processes - often with unexpected results. The focus of this section is on the dynamics of interspecific interactions such as predation and competition and on how these interactions influence the coexistence of species, the size and stability of populations, as well as the flows of energy and matter through ecosystems. This section gives a thorough introduction to how models are constructed and analysed. This includes exercises in how biological assumptions translate into mathematical models and how the models are subsequently programmed and numerically analysed in Matlab. Matlab is a modelling software with