Describes the logistic population growth model and applies it to the scenario of population growth and overabundance in white-tailed deer. Activity also contains links to more advanced activities such how to model the harvesting rate of a population with logistic growth.

"The capacity for growth is a measure of the success of a population of a species. Because there are so many interactions between individuals and the environment, measuring how well populations grow is often complex. Population biologists frequently use mathematical growth models to help them study real populations. Population models might seem like all theory and math, but they help us understand real ecological systems in simpler terms. They are used for testing theories, making...

This course will be an overview of the mathematical tools used in quantitative analysis and modeling of biological systems. The goal is to develop quantitative reasoning skills through the use of mathematical modeling, data analysis, and computer simulation. This is a unique course in the biology curriculum at William and Mary by covering both organismal and cellular biology through the use of mathematical, statistical and computational approaches, and by focusing on the development of skills in model development, validation and refinement.

Ecology and conservation biology contain numerous examples of populations growing without bounds or shrinking towards extinction. For these populations, the change in the number of individuals generally follows an exponential curve. On the other hand, limited resources may keep population numbers in check and help maintain the population at the environment's carrying capacity. These density-dependent constraints on population growth can be described by the logistic growth equation. The…

This collection of about 50 modules were developed to accompany general biology courses and allow instructors to add some quantitative examples in many of the topics in a standard GB sequence. The modules mostly use high-scholl level math and have a uniform structure of :  introduction, importance, questions, methods, variables, analysis and/or data, interpretation, conclusions and additional questions for students to address. 

From source site: “This website is designed to provide a variety of information about the text Mathematics for the Life Sciences. It provides some material that supplements the presentations in the text, and will be the primary method used by the authors to pass on new material related to the text to readers. We have endeavored to compose the text so that it is self-contained and hope that readers at various levels of mathematical preparation find it to be accessible. It is…

Modules designed to help students understand the math behind the material learned in introductory ecology courses. 

Based upon the University of Minnesota Bachelor's of Science in Health Science calculus curriculum (part 2), this course  introduces linear transformations, ordinary differential equations, basic linear algebra (matrices and systems of equations), and basic mathematical modeling. 

In this module we introduce the important notion of the replacement number, which generalizes the basic reproductive number R0. We investigate how this number behaves near the start of an outbreak in models based on the uniform mixing assumption and in models that assume a contact network that is a random k-regular graph with small k. We also illustrate a method for estimating the value of R0 from epidemiological data.

Level: Advanced undergraduate and graduate students of…

In this module we introduce the so-called friendship paradox and illustrate how it affects disease transmission on networks that exhibit this phenomenon.

You also need to download the input file degreesFP.txt that will be used in this module.

Level: Advanced undergraduate and graduate students of mathematics.

Requires: Module The replacement number.

Wood density data used in this activity are derived from: Zanne AE, Lopez-Gonzalez G, Coomes DA, Ilic J, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Miller RB, Swenson NG, Wiemann MC, Chave J (2009) Data from: Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Dryad Digital Repository. doi:10.5061/dryad.234

In this data driven curriculum module students will use an authentic data set from Dryad Digital Repository to explore whether evolutionary tradeoffs actually occur in plants and whether evolution has led to tissue…

An Excel sheet containing a data set of lynx pelts collected from 1752-1819. The data was made available through The Analysis of Biological Data's website, which supplies students and instructors with data that complements the text. 

These are the materials for Math 214 offered at Rhodes College. The course description is:  "In this course students will learn how to use discrete mathematical models to analyze problems arising in the biological sciences, without using calculus. The types of models used will include discrete difference equations, matrix models, and agent-based models. Some of the biological applications explored in this course include modeling the population sizes of various species over time, describing..."