Description: Biology takes a special place among the other natural sciences because biological units, be they pieces of DNA, cells or organisms, reproduce more or less faithfully. As for any other biological processes, reproduction has a large random component. The theory of branching processes was developed especially as a mathematical counterpart to this most fundamental of biological processes. This active and rich research area allows us to make predictions about both extinction risks and the development of population composition, and also uncovers aspects of a population's history from its current genetic composition. Branching processes play an increasingly important role in models of genetics, molecular biology, microbiology, ecology and evolutionary theory. This book presents this body of mathematical ideas for a biological audience, but should also be enjoyable to mathematicians.
Brief description: PATSY HACCOU is Associate Professor of Mathematical Biology at the Institute of Biology, Leiden University. She is co-author of Statistical Analysis of Behavioural Data.
Review Quotes: "Biologists should find this book to be of interest because of its forceful arguments for insights to be gained by expressing biological theories in mathematical terms. It should also be attractive to mathematicians because of the numerous biological examples that can lead to interesting mathematics." The Quarterly Review of Biology, Edward Pollak, Iowa State University