Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!emory!ogicse!plains!kurtze
From: kurtze@plains.NoDak.edu (Douglas Kurtze)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Lotka-Volterra question
Message-ID: <6514@plains.NoDak.edu>
Date: 30 Oct 90 19:25:21 GMT
Distribution: sci.bio
Organization: North Dakota State University, Fargo
Lines: 25

Does anybody out there know about (or know where I can find out about)
CONTINUUM Lotka-Volterra population models?  By "continuum", I mean that
you take the usual many-species model,

     dP_i/dt = P_i Sum c_ij P_j

and let the species indices i and j be continuous variables (so the sum
over j becomes an integral with a dj).  I can interpret this by letting
the indices label slightly different phenotypes, with P(j)dj being the
number of individuals whose types are within dj of j.  The variables
i and j can be multidimensional.

I encountered the continuum version of this equation a few years ago in
a completely different context -- studying the shape of flames (chemical
ones, not the ones you get here ;-) ) -- and realized that the results I
got could have some application to population dynamics.

Respond by e-mail or post; I do read this newsgroup.  References would be
much appreciated!


Doug Kurtze                   kurtze@plains.NoDak.edu
Physics, North Dakota State

"Patience is its own reward" -- Flann O'Brien