Dynamical Modeling of Complex Adaptive Systems: Applications to Social Insect Colonies

Dr. Yun Kang
Professor of Applied Mathematics
Arizona State University

A complex adaptive system (CAS) is a system that is complex in that it is a dynamic network of interactions, but the behavior of the ensemble may not be predictable according to the behavior of the components. Social insect colonies; the brain; the immune system; and human social group-based endeavors are excellent examples of CAS. Mathematical models are powerful tools that can provide us quantitative approaches to elucidate complicated ecological and evolutionary processes on the numerous spatial, temporal and hierarchical scales at which social insect colonies and/or human groups operate. In this talk, I will review some of our recent collaborative work with biologists and psychologists to address important and interesting questions of CAS such as:

(1) How does information spread in the social insect colonies?
(2) How do task organization and work performance scale with colony size and metabolism?
(3) How does environment impact task allocation?
(4) How may climate and parasite impact honeybee population dynamics?