Dr. Peter Czuppon

Modeling in ecology and evolution

Dr. Peter Czuppon

The goal of this seminar is to introduce and explain my general research approach to you, the members of the IEB. As a theoretician, I do not have a special biological system that I study, but rather a specific set of tools that I preferentially use to analyze all sorts of (eco-)evolutionary questions. In my case, the tools are stochastic models, not to be confused with statistical models. Stochastic models are typically based on individual-based descriptions of the biological system, essentially birth and death rates of individuals. By giving examples from my recent research, I will outline the basic ideas of some of the stochastic models I use. The examples are ranging from general Lotka-Volterra-type models (predator-prey dynamics) over adaptation in spatially structured populations to mating systems in plants, fungi and ciliates. The questions that I typically try to answer are concerned with invasion and fixation dynamics of (new) genetic variants and/or the maintenance of stable polymorphisms (in populations of finite size).