	Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre
	Canada's premier coastal and marine facility for teaching and research

Models in Ecology 2009

Mathematical Models by the Sea

This year, in the beautiful westcoast town of Bamfield, British Columbia, Canada, a “Models in Ecology” course was offered at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre from July 27-August 14, 2009. This course was organized and taught byMark A. Lewis (University of Alberta) and Martin Krkosek (University of Washington). The course developed the methods, models and tools for quantitative ecology. The process of formulation, analysis, parameterization, and validation of quantitative models for ecological processes and data was studied. A term project was then completed (in groups of 2) that applied these methods to an ecological process. Since the class had both mathematicians and biologists, the project emphasized collaboration between these two fields. The course involved a lab component, which included simulation and programming in R and Excel, as well as a literature component where current literature was reviewed and discussed.
Not only was this course situated in the scenic location of Bamfield, it was an excellent overview of mathematical models and the statistical methods used to confront these mathematical models with data. This course was offered by Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, and as a course towards the program for students at the PIMS (Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences) International Graduate Training Centre. PIMS assisted with some of the expenses for the IGTC students. We would like to the thank the teachers of this summer course, Mark and Marty, as well as Beth Rogers and all of the other staff at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre for helping with the coordination of this course as well as ensuring an excellent time for all of the students taking the course.

By Shaun Strom (student), August 2009

Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre
100 Pachena Rd, Bamfield, BC
Canada, V0R 1B0
Phone: (250) 728-3301
Fax: (250) 728-3452

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