Population Biology

This volume contains the Proceedings of the International Conference in Population Biology held at The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada from June 22 to June 30, 1982. The Conference was sponsored by The University of Alberta and The Canadian Applied Mathematics Society, and overlapped with the summer meeting of CAMS. The main objectives of this Conference were: to bring mathematicians and biologists together so that they may interact for their mutual benefit; to bring those researchers interested in modelling in ecology and those interested in modelling in genetics together; to bring in keynote speakers in the delineated areas; to have sessions of contributed papers; and to present the opportunity for researchers to conduct workshops. With the exception of the last one, the objec­ tives were carried out. In order to lend some focus to the Conference, the following themes were adopted: models of species growth, predator-prey, competition, mutualism, food webs, dispersion, age structure, stability, evolution of ecological parameters, evolution of behaviour, life history strategies, group and social selection, and evolution of genetic systems. There were speakers (invited and/or contributed papers) in each of these areas. Talks were given on Tuesday, June 22 to Friday, June 25 and on Monday, June 28 to Wednesday, June 30. On each day there were several talks by the principal speakers as well as contributed sessions. Altogether, there were ninety­ one papers given, of which twelve were by the principal speakers. There were one hundred and twenty-three registered participants from twelve different countries.