TU München WS 2020/21

Prof. Dr. C. Kuttler MA 3601

M.Sc. P. Schlicke November 18, 2020

Mathematical Models in Biology I

Exercise Sheet 3

Exercise 1:
Determine the stability and sketch a phase diagram of the following systems xn+1 = Axn using
a) 3 4
≠2 1
A=
≠7 3
b) 3 4
1 2
A=
≠1 4

Exercise 2:
Formulate a model for the development of a population with the following properties: animals of age one year
give birth to exactly one child, animals of age two years give birth to exactly two children. No further progenies
are taken into account.
a) Give a formulation as a system of first order difference equations and as one equation of higher order.
b) Find an expression of the form Xn+1 = AXn with Xn œ R2 , n œ N and A œ R2◊2 . Examine the stability
of the trivial steady state (0, 0).
c) Find a matrix A such that the population will die out for n æ Œ with respect to the previously found
expression. Explain the matrix entries in the context of the modelling approach.

Exercise 3:
Examine the following life table describing a population of song sparrows in a “bird census”.
Age in years (x) S(x) b(x) l(x) g(x)
0 115 0
1 25 8
2 19 8
3 12 2
4 2 0
5 1 0
6 0 0
a) Fill out the missing values for the survivorship l(x) and for the survival probability g(x). Round to two
decimal places where necessary.
b) Calculate the net reproductive rate R0 , the generation time G and the intrinsic rate of increase r. Again,
round to two decimal places where necessary. Is the population of relevant age structure?
c) Set up the Leslie matrix corresponding to the given life table. Assume the population at time t = 0
consists of the distribution N (0) = (100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 0)T , i.e. there are 100 newborn, 50 one-year old
individuals, 20 two-year old individuals and so on. Compute the population distributions for the following
two years. Round to integers where necessary.
d) Use the Leslie matrix to determine the age distribution which the population will tend to (for large t).
Hint: The eigenvalues of the Leslie matrix are approximately 03 , 2.3680, ≠0, 2146, ≠0.3934, the computa-
tion of the corresponding eigenvector is easier with some computer.

The draft solutions of this sheet will be available in the moodle course. Questions to this sheet and the solution
approaches will be discussed in the question hours (Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25).