Siquenza Summer School 2003 on DEB theory

Siquenza Summer school 2003 on DEB theory

About Dynamics Energy Budget theory

A brief introduction to the theory can be found at the DEB information pages.

In preparation for your course:

In preparation to your course in Siquenze, to optimize course results in terms of efficiency of info-transfer, please:

Undust your basic training in applied mathematics; we assume that the document on "Basic Methods in Theoretical Biology" hase no secrets for you. This document will be part of an International School for Theoretical Biology, which we plan to set up in the near future.
Read the paper Quantitative aspects of metabolic organization; a discussion of concepts. The ten sessions build on each other; it helps if you have flown over the material before we start working our way through it.
Test your present understanding of concepts on energetics by answering a quizz. Remember your score and compare your results after the course to quantify the success of the course.

Material

We will use the DEB book for the course, which has errata and comments that give derivations of equations, and supplementary material. Rules for the notation are also provided. Since many variables will cross our path, we need elaborate rules to deal with them in an organized manner.

Schedule

In ten sessions, we follow the chapters of the DEB book, skipping the one on toxicity (Chapter 6), to reduce the amount of material somewhat.

Energetics, models and basic concepts (Chapters 1 and 2)
Energy acquisition and use 1 (Chapter 3)
Energy acquisition and use 2
Uptake and use of essential compounds (Chapter 4)
Multivariate DEB models (Chapter 5)
Case studies (Chapter 7)
Comparison of species (Chapter 8)
Living together 1: population dynamics (Chapter 9)
Living together 2: symbioses
Comparison with (time dependent) static budgets (Chapter 10)

Post course support

The thight schedule of the course does not allow practical exercises, while these are rather essential to use the theory in practice, and to add your own contribution to the further development of the theory. You can find a collection of exercises and answers on the DEB information pages. You will also find the DEB software package DEBtool, which can be freely download from the DEB laboratory.

Go to the DEB information page