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Food webs, competition graphs, and habitat formation. (English) Zbl 1241.92071

Summary: An interesting example of a discrete mathematical model used in biology is a food web. The first biology courses in high schools and in colleges present the fundamental nature of a food web, one that is understandable by students at all levels. But food webs as part of a larger system are often not addressed. This paper presents material that can be used in undergraduate classes in biology (and mathematics) and provides students with the opportunity to explore mathematical models of predator-prey relationships, and to determine trophic levels, dominant species, stability of ecosystems, competition graphs, interval graphs, and even confront problems that would appear to have logical answers that are as yet unsolved.

MSC:

92D40 Ecology
05C90 Applications of graph theory
97M60 Biology, chemistry, medicine (aspects of mathematics education)
05C20 Directed graphs (digraphs), tournaments
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