Math Club: Math Talk by Lawrence Seminario-Romero
On Thursday, February 23 at 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall, the Math Club will host a Math Talk by Lawrence Seminario-Romero.
Title: Modeling plant-herbivore interactions when a type III functional response is present
Abstract: The functional response measures the consumption rate per predator as a function of prey density. The most notable functional response models are those attributed to C.S. Holling who described three types: I, II, and III. The type II and III Holling functional responses are empirically supported, with type I being the least realistic for predators. A lot of previous work on modeling predator-prey interactions utilized a type II functional response. For this talk, we will analyze a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations that models plant-herbivore interactions when a type III functional response is involved. The analysis consists of nondimensionalization, and the existence, uniqueness and stability of equilibria. We also use numerical estimates obtained from MATLAB to determine conditions for which a plant and herbivore can coexist.
Pizza and soda will be provided!
Additional information about upcoming Math Club events can be found at https://math.unl.edu/math-club.