Math Biology Symposium in honour of Mark Lewis
Math Biology Symposium in honour of Mark Lewis
We are very pleased to announce that Mark Lewis has been chosen as UVic's Faculty of Science distinguished alumnus for 2012. Mark graduated from UVic in 1987 with a joint Math/Biology degree and now holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Math Biology at University of Alberta. Mark's research focuses on spatial ecology models, and he works on diverse problems including modeling population dynamics of polar bears, ecological succession on Mt. St. Helens, and dynamics of infectious disease. For more information on Mark's research, go to his website.
In honour of Mark's award, we are organizing a Math Biology Symposium, on Wednesday February 8th, 2012.
LEWIS FEST: Wednesday February 08 2012, UVic Mac D116
PROGRAM
10.30am -12 noon Seminar by Mark Lewis (University of Alberta) followed by a discussion
Title: First passage time: Connecting random walks to functional responses
Abstract: In this talk I will outline first passage time analysis for animals undertaking complex movement patterns, and will demonstrate how first passage time can be used to derive functional responses in predator prey systems. The result is a new approach to understanding functional responses based on a random walk model. I will extend the analysis to complex heterogeneous environments to assess the effects of man-made linear landscape features on functional responses in wolves and elk. (This work is joint with Hannah McKenzie, Evelyn Merrill and Ray Spiteri)
12-noon -1pm Lunch for registered participants in Haro Room, Caddy Commons
1pm Return to Mac D116 for the afternoon events
1.10-1.20pm Musical interlude: J Ben Wilson (Math & Stats)
1.20pm-1.30pm About the Distinguished Alumni Award. Dr. Rob Lipson, Dean of Science
1.30pm How far will transgenic apple pollen travel? Rebecca Tyson (UBC Okanagan, Math & Stats)
1.50pm Extracting meaningful data from large fisheries ecology data sets: Jaimie Imrie (Interdisciplinary, CSc & Biology)
2.10pm Models for the spread of cholera: Zhishing Shuai (Math & Stats)
2.30pm Short Break
2.40pm Bayesian hierarchical analysis of Chytrid disease in British Columbia: Jean Richardson (Biology)
3.00pm The Jolly-Seber-Tag-Loss model with group heterogeneity: Laura Cowen (Math & Stats)
3.20pm How species diversity stabilizes food webs: History, new theory & data: Brad Anholt (Biology)
3.40-5.00pm Closing and Tea. SSM A514 (Math Biology grad students)