Organizers:
Sebastian Schreiber (University of California, Davis)
Description:
This minisymposium will explore recent advances in flow-kick (aka hybrid or impulsive) dynamical systems and their applications to population biology. Flow-kick models, which combine continuous dynamics with discrete perturbations of states and parameters, provide a powerful framework for studying biological systems that experience both smooth and abrupt changes. Recent theoretical developments have established new tools for analyzing the interplay between continuous and discrete processes in biological systems. Applications including consumer-resource dynamics with seasonal reproduction, epidemiological models with pulsed vaccination, and population management with periodic harvesting demonstrate how flow-kick approaches can capture emergent phenomena missed by purely continuous or discrete models. The minisymposium will bring together researchers developing mathematical theory and numerical methods for flow-kick systems alongside those applying these tools to concrete biological problems. Talks will showcase both analytical approaches and empirical applications, with emphasis on mechanistic understanding of population responses to perturbation. By highlighting this growing synthesis of theory and application, the session aims to stimulate new collaborations advancing our ability to understand and manage populations experiencing recurrent disturbances.
Junping Shi
College of William and Mary"Effect of rotational grazing on plant and animal production"
Kate Meyers
Carleton College"From deluges to drizzle: continuous limits of flow-kick models"
Rebecca Tyson
University of British Columbia, Okanagan"Host-parasitoid systems are vulnerable to extinction via P-tipping: Forest Tent Caterpillar as an example"
Sebastian Schreiber
University of California, Davis"Coexistence and extinction in flow kick systems via Lyapunov exponents"
