We use an interdisciplinary methodology to model animal behavior; in particular, we rigorously connect compartmental ordinary differential equation and matrix models to behavior data from field populations. We will use mathematical models and field data to study the impact of bald eagle activity and climate change on the behavior and productivity of nesting seabirds. The work will also help reduce the schism between mathematics and biology by pursuing a paradigm of tight interdisciplinary vertical integration involving undergraduate students, graduate students, and research faculty.
This research allows us to evaluate scientific questions such as: 1) Can mathematical equations predict animal behavior? In other words, is animal behavior largely deterministic? 2) Can mathematical equations accurately predict behavioral changes caused by human activity and climate change (such as global warming)? 3) How do such behavioral changes affect population viability? The ability to predict animal behavior in field populations also can be applied to such practical concerns as the spread of disease, including bird flu, Salmonella, Shigella, West Nile fever, and Lyme disease; reduction in the risk of bird-aircraft strikes, which cause major loss of human life and property; and wildlife management. Despite the accelerating use of mathematics in research biology, the schism between mathematics and academic biology has been very difficult to close, and is perpetuated at the undergraduate level. The investigators bring significant mathematical techniques into the biology classroom. Cross-disciplinary teaching by faculty from mathematics and biology, and an undergraduate research team, integrate mathematics and biology in an unprecedented way.
