Mathematical Biology I
Mathematical Biology I
Mathematics 943
Fall Semester 2009
suggested Textbook
N. F. Britton, Essential Mathematical Biology, Springer Verlag (2002)
References
There are many excellent texts on mathematical biology and ecology. The first two of these below will be course resources, and eithher would
have made an excellent text. Here is a short list:
- M. Mangel, 2006. A Theoretical Biologist's Toolbox, Cambridge University Press.
- F. Brauer and C. Castillo-Chavez, 2001. Mathematical Models in Population Biology
and Epidemiology, Springer-Verlag.
- L. W. S. C. Gurney and R. M. Nisbet, 2001. Ecological Dynamics, Oxford U. P.
- M. Kot, 2001. Elements of Mathematical Ecology, Cambridge U. P. 2001
- J. Murray, 2002. Mathematical Biology Vol 1, Springer-Verlag.
- E. Allman & J. Rhodes, 2003. Mathematical Models in Biology, , Cambridge University Press.
Topics in Course
- Epidemiology and disease ecology
- Ecology and population biology
- Genetics and natural selection
- Age-Structured models
Prerequisites
The prerequisites include a knowledge of basic calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations. There is no biology prerequisite, but only
a desire to learn biological modeling.
Grading
There will be no exams in the course. Students should be self-motivated.
Assigned Exercises from Britton
Exercises will assigned from Britton, and readings and projects will be suggested. Attendance and participation is expected.
Some software packages will be useful, like MATLAB. The ODE solver pplane5.m (a MATLAB program) can be downloaded from
http://www.math.rice.edu/~polking/ .