ABSTRACT
This article describes an approach to modeling population dynamics that employs physiological information at the individual level. This procedure has been utilized to investigate the effects of chemicals in aquatic populations. The dynamic population protocol requires development of a mathematical model of relevant physiological processes of the individual, determination of parameters in the individual model that can lead to variation among the types of individuals in the population, and formulation of the population model. The individual model consists of ordinary differential equations, whereas the population model consists of an appropriate number of McKendrick-von Foerster partial differential equations, each of which incorporates the dynamics of the individual ecotypes present in the population. The procedure assumes clonal reproduction and is generic in that, for application, only the individual model and the diversity desired in the population need be specified. An advantage of this approach is that it focuses on the individual and utilizes a data base on the level of many biological investigations.
