Insect Dynamics

In this chapter we develop three different models of insect dynamics. From the perspective of “dynamic modeling of pestilence,” insects surely need special attention—they are the carriers of many of the viruses that affect the health of humans and other animals, and they cause billions of dollars of damage to food supplies around the world every year. We try to control their population levels, having long ago realized they multiply and evolve too fast for elimination.

Insects are among the major vectors of disease. They provide an excellent way to understand the dynamic modeling of a complicated disease vector composed of different age classes.

From a modeling perspective, insect dynamics can be used to effectively illustrate a set of techniques and skills that will prove important for gaining a deeper understanding of

• (a) the challenges of matching laboratory and field experiments to models

• (b) the underlying mechanisms by which living systems evolved and adjust to their external environment

• (c) the distinct roles that different life stages or age cohorts may play in the transmission of, or infection with a disease

The following three sections of this chapter respectively address these issues. Later chapters either explicitly or implicitly make use of the insights gained here.