Date of Submission
Spring 2017
Academic Programs and Concentrations
Mathematics; Environmental and Urban Studies
Project Advisor 1
John Cullinan
Project Advisor 2
Elias Dueker
Abstract/Artist's Statement
In this project I am modelling the predator-prey relationship between California sheephead and purple sea urchin populations, respectively, in kelp forests off the coast of southern California. The Lotka-Volterra equations explain predator-prey relationships in their most basic form. These equations incorporate a set of biological assumptions that can be unrepresentative of many ecological systems. I will consider alternate models that incorporate variations of the Lotka-Volterra model which may better represent the biology of the purple sea urchins and California sheephead. Using biological characteristics of both species in kelp forests, I will set possible and likely parameters and solve for unknown parameters. After constructing the models, I will fit each model to the population data. Once I have fit each model to the data, I will compute various error estimations using four possible objective functions and determine the model of best fit.
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Olivia Rachel, "Modeling purple sea urchin and California sheephead populations in southern California kelp forests" (2017). Senior Projects Spring 2017. 355.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2017/355
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.
Included in
Ordinary Differential Equations and Applied Dynamics Commons, Plant Sciences Commons, Population Biology Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons