Modeling predator-prey equations for Ambystoma tigrinum in the presence of phenotypic plasticity

According to [4], “Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to changes in the environment. Such plasticity in some cases expresses as several highly morphologically distinct results; in other cases, a continuous norm of reaction describes the functional interrelationship of a range of environments to a range of phenotypes. The term was originally conceived in the context of development, but is now more broadly applied to include changes that occur during the adult life of an organism, such as behaviour.” Ambystoma tigrinum, the tiger salamander, is a classic example of this phenomenon. A species of salamander widespread in the U.S., the tiger salamander hatches from eggs into an aquatic larval form. In a “typical” growth trajectory, the larval form matures into an adult salamander capable of terrestrial life, then becomes sexually mature. Other trajectories include remaining in a legless aquatic form but maturing sexually to carry out the entire life cycle in the water (paedomorph), or, in a variant of this, developing huge jaws in the juvenile stage and becoming an aquatic, largely cannibalistic predator [5] [3]. In the “introduction” section of your paper you should give the reader a brief overview of the modeling problem and also the specific questions you will address in your particular paper. [1] How should your paper be structured? Please include all the sections that you see here in this assignment description.