The scientific study of short-term and long-term changes in the size and age composition of populations and the processes driving these changes.
15
votes
2answers
224 views
Smallest viable reproducing population
What is the smallest viable reproducing population, such as in a human population. By viable I mean a population which keeps genetic defects low (enough).
A very strongly related question: what is ...
12
votes
3answers
158 views
When are population dynamics models useful?
When are population dynamics models useful? There seems to have been a lot of research about it, but how does it help? If I need data about how a population will evolve under what conditions, I need ...
9
votes
1answer
72 views
Vaccination and population dynamics of an epidemic
I'm trying to figure out how should a vaccination model be built to correlate with population density, and I'm having problems to understand meanings of the results I receive when I apply theory on ...
9
votes
1answer
253 views
How does population stability evolve?
The number of individuals constituting a population is called population size. Over time population size does not remain constant, it fluctuates to different extent over generations because of ...
9
votes
1answer
348 views
How many mice are on the Earth?
We are 7 billion human beings on the Earth. But how many mice are there? How would you estimate such a number?
7
votes
1answer
164 views
How many organisms have ever lived on Earth?
I've looked for some information on this, but couldn't find anything useful. Has there been any noteworthy attempt to estimate the sum amount of individuals of all species that have ever lived on ...
6
votes
1answer
68 views
Genetic Diversity and Adaptation
I am somewhat new to evolutionary biology, having studied it on my free time as a computer science student. There is one particular thing that has always bothered me for which I have not seen a good ...
3
votes
2answers
127 views
Does finite rate of increase depend on mortality of individuals in a population?
As written in my lecture handouts, there two main factors in the Geometric Growth Model of populations:
$R_{0}$ is the expected lifetime reproductive output. This way, for unicellulars, for example, ...
3
votes
1answer
62 views
When does weak selection produce qualitatively different results from strong selection?
In evolutionary game theory, it is typical to model organisms as having a base fitness that is modified slightly by the game interaction. The ratio of the game effect versus the base fitness ...
2
votes
1answer
27 views
Range of feasible coefficients in an unlimited growth model
If you are given an unlimited growth model in the form:
$\frac {dP(t)}{dt} = k P(t)$
Obviously the population growth would never be unlimited, but let's presume for the moment that we are ...
0
votes
1answer
79 views
How to classify equilibrium points [closed]
I have the two differential equations:
$$\frac{dN_1}{dt} = N_1(2 - N_1 - 2N_2)$$
$$\frac{dN_2}{dt} = N_2(3 - N_2 - 3N_1).$$
I worked out the equilibrium points to be at $N_1 = 0, \frac{4}{5}$ and ...
