Speaker: Greg Kerouac
Candidate for Bachelor of Science in Mathematics
Time: 5:45 PM
Place: Trustee Hall 203
Supervisor: Dr. David Naples
Title: Integrating Spatial GIS Data with an ODE Metapopulation Model

Abstract: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software has been the most pervasive new technology in biological research over the past two decades. The use of spatial data to consolidate biological information into graphic maps allows the biologist to compile and view complex data in a comparatively small amount of time. However, the primary use of this kind of data has thus far been cartographic rather than analytical. This project has made use of an existing GIS application describing the distribution of the Black-tailed Prairie Dog in Texas, and explored potential compatibilities with Richard Levins’ classic metapopulation model. While the marriage of the two has been less than perfect, the process by which the spatial data and the ODE model were compared and integrated suggests some standard techniques that might be applied to future endeavors of this kind, some pitfalls that might be avoided and some future directions that such research might take. Furthermore, the research has suggested alternative mathematical models that might be more easily integrated with the kind of spatial data that GIS applications produce.