Dec 16th: The utility of mathematical models in evolutionary biology
Hello everyone, Joe D will be leading a discussion on Wednesday, Dec 16th at 11 am CT on the essay "Not Just a Theory - the utility of mathematical models in evolutionary biology by Servedio et al. PLoS Biology 2014. The link to the paper is: DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002017. It is an essay so it is short and sweet. If you are like me you are having fun finishing the semester. This discussion will be a nice respite from grading.
Summary: Progress in science often begins with verbal hypotheses meant to explain why certain biological phenomena exist. An important purpose of mathematical models in evolutionary research, as in many other fields, is to act as ‘‘proof-of-concept’’ tests of the logic in verbal explanations, paralleling the way in which empirical data are used to test hypotheses. Because not all subfields of biology use mathematics for this purpose, misunderstandings of the function of proof of- concept modeling are common. In the hope of facilitating communication, we discuss the role of proof-of-concept modeling in evolutionary biology.
About the author
Drew LaMar @ on — Edited @ on
:) Actually, I am having a blast finishing the semester, and have been avoiding grading. I like short and sweet, and their diagram reminds me a lot of the one I use in class (theirs on left, mine on right).
Reply Report abuse
Jillian P. Yung @ on
It is really nice research paper on the death penalty update. You have explained but honestly this subject is not my type. I tired really wishing that my semester will over soon. But it’s great to know this how nice you are in this subject.
Reply Report abuse