Parameter Identification in Partial Integro-Dierenti al Equations for Physiologically Structured Populations

Continuous dynamic models, e.g. Comsol based simulations, play - be- sides statistical or iterative methods - a mayor role in theoretical ecology; in forecast- ing and management, but also in systems analysis. Ecological issues generally com- prise highly interacting agents and/or un- known side eects. We here show how com- bining direct simulation with Comsol with simple optimization tools in Matlab helps in research in ecology. We analyse the dynam- ics of a physiologically structured population under changing temperature and food condi- tions in two ways. At first we conduct virtual experiments aiming at ecient experimen- tal design for parameter identification, after- wards we accomplish simulations for process analysis in real life experiments for the the freshwater shrimp Gammarus pulex.