Fire Ant Population Model

Anticipated Outcome

The model will be used to assimilate existing knowledge of the fire ant, and provide a vehicle for addressing both strategic (research) and tactical (management) questions. During the first year of the project, we expect to develop the general model structure and obtain existing data to estimate parameter for major components of the model. During the second year of the project we will continue the model development and begin the detailed verification-validation process.

During the second cycle of funding, we will conduct verifications and validations experiments , begin to make management recommendations, and use the model to better understand current critical limitations with our knowledge of this insect.

An implicit objective of this research is to use the fire ant model as a structure for integrating the knowledge base and expertise of each of the major players in the fire ant initiative. Along this line of reasoning, the fire ant model would also be structured to enable future linkage with object-oriented vertebrate population models, which would allow for the joint models to be used to estimate fire ant impact on vertebrate populations for different management scenarios.

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