Biomathematics Seminar
Tuesday 4/15/08

Speaker: James Umbanhowar 
Department of Biology
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Title: Resource based theory of the ecology of mutualism and the mycorrhizal
symposis

Abstract:
The vast majority of mathematical analysis of species interactions and 
their effect on community dynamics has focused on consumer-resource 
interactions, where the consumer benefits at the cost of its resource. 
This work ignores an important, common class of interactions, 
mutualisms, where both species benefit by the presence of the other. 
These interactions are common in nearly all ecosystems.  In this talk, I 
will discuss my work on developing models of these interactions and 
using these models to make predictions about the structure of ecological 
communities.  Special attention is paid to the nearly ubiquitous 
mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi and the role it plays in 
mediating competition for resources among plants.